Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and author of “How the Mind Works” and “The Blank Slate,” will address this question in his lecture “What IF the world’s actually getting better?”

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 30 in Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse. 

The event is a part of Purdue’s Ideas Festival, the centerpiece of Purdue’s Giant Leaps Sesquicentennial Campaign, which is a series of events that connect world-renowned speakers and Purdue expertise in a conversation on the most critical problems facing the world. One of the Ideas Festival’s themes is health, longevity and quality of life. 

A highly respected scientist and two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, Pinker uses scientific reasoning to debunk the assumption that the world is getting worse. He argues that peace, prosperity, knowledge and happiness are all on the rise, and contrary to popular belief, the world is actually getting better.

Additional Information
Free and open to the public.  This event can not be live-streamed or recorded.