One of the great gifts of the Enlightenment age was the centrality of reason and empiricism as instruments to unleash the astonishing potential of human capacity. Great Enlightenment thinkers recognized that human beings have the capacity to observe the universe and rely on logical thinking to solve problems.
Moreover, these were not just lofty ideals; Benjamin Franklin and Denis Diderot demonstrated that building our collective constitution of knowledge could greatly enhance human prosperity not only for the aristocratic class but for all participants in the social contract. Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanac” and Diderot and d’Alembert’s “Encyclopédie” served as the Enlightenment’s machines de guerre, effectively providing broad access to practical knowledge, empowering individuals to build their own unique brand of prosperity.
It is hard to overstate what a radical departure this was from the prior millennium, where the birth lottery largely circumscribed the determinants of one’s prosperity. Due to this striking reorientation, many historians view the Enlightenment as laying the bedrock for what we consider a modern society.
Further, one cannot deny the titanic impact of this reorientation. Consider that in 1790, human life expectancy was around 30 years, one in five children didn’t survive to age 5, and 4/5 of the world lived in extreme poverty. Today, life expectancy is over 70 years across the globe; over 99% of children survive past the age of 5; and only one-fifth of the world lives in the same extreme level of poverty. Arguably, we have unleashed more human prosperity in the last 200 years than in the prior 2000.
It is with this perspective that we must consider the gravity of our current condition. What are the consequences of having abandoned our Enlightenment ideals? Today, the era’s gifts are adrift in our bitterly polarized landscape, where the demonization of tribal politics obscures civic problem-solving. In such an environment, our ability to construct effective policy solutions becomes impossible. As vital, constructive discussions of public policy are crowded out, the unfettered interests of crony capitalism prevail. By yielding to the alignment of political and economic power over recent decades, we the people have permitted the monied classes to advance their own interests at the expense of those of the majority of the republic.
Where does this leave us? Our political discourse has devolved into a game of scoring points and laying blame for our predicaments, while the unbridled “free market” wreaks havoc on today’s working classes. As we continue to amass an immense debt burden, it deprives future generations of their own prospects.
The absurdities that emerge from our predicament become increasingly disquieting. Here are two particularly noteworthy examples:
The quest for artificial intelligence and its consequent effects on energy prices and the environment.
Unsatisfied with the intelligence with which we are naturally endowed, we have surrendered to a market-driven quest to discover and deploy a supposedly superior “artificial” intelligence. The immense anticipated demand for this AI will require significantly more computer processing power than we currently possess. Consequently, today we are building the requisite data centers, which will consume a staggering amount of incremental energy.
At the same time, our MAGA retrograde energy policy, priding itself on climate change denial, is funneling resources into the rebuilding and redeployment of coal, oil, and gas infrastructure and cancelling or furloughing green energy projects. However, due to the skyrocketing cost of revitalizing coal, this traditional energy source is now more costly than solar and wind energy. So as the NYT recently reported, in West Virginia, where the coal revitalization is centered, consumer energy prices are rising more than double the national average.
The replacement of genuine human interaction with its virtual counterpart.
As a species, we have seemingly determined that building authentic human relationships is too difficult (or painful). Fortunately, the proliferating opportunities to build digital relationships provide ample replacement. Vast chunks of our society, notably young people, are increasingly forsaking real human interaction and replacing it with its virtual cousin. As Scott Galloway reminds us: Who needs to go out on dates, when Only Fans is just a click away?
Of a bygone era are the noisy college dining halls where vivacious conversations reverberated from the rafters; today, each student eats individually with scant interaction with their neighboring diners, all glued to their screens, and many with earbuds.
Can we not tap into our better angels and return to an era of crafting solutions to pressing concerns? Unfortunately, trapped by our technologies and their supporting business models, we find it increasingly difficult to distance ourselves from the pressures of our self-chosen “mobs.” This leaves me with a meager opportunity to constructively resolve genuine policy differences. Our Enlightenment forbears welcomed technology and market competition as leveling devices for the public good. For the sake of the next generation, it might be in our best interest to follow their model.
Seth David Radwell is the author of “American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nation” winner of last year’s International Book Award for Best General Nonfiction. He is a frequent contributor as a political analyst, and speaker within both the business community and on college campuses both in the U.S. and abroad.
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