Why Be Optimistic?
TCS Daily features an interview with Freeman Dyson by Benny Peiser. A couple of excerpts:
[T]he western academic world is very much like Weimar Germany, finding itself in a situation of losing power and influence. Fortunately, the countries that matter now are China and India, and the Chinese and Indian experts do not share the mood of doom and gloom. It is amusing to see China and India take on today the role that America took in the nineteen-thirties, still believing in technology as the key to a better life for everyone....
It is also interesting in this connection to observe the similarity, in optimistic mood and rapid material progress, between China and India. Although China is traditionally non-religious and India is traditionally permeated with religion, this does not seem to make much difference. In both countries, rapidly growing wealth and technological progress create a mood of optimism, with or without religion.
Read the whole thing. (It's short.) [Via Arnold Kling.]
Inspired by Dyson's mention of it, I'm off to the library to get Bernal's The World, the Flesh, and the Devil