Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Natural Resources Defense Council, 465n76

natural selection, 18–19

homeostasis discovered by, 22

human intelligence and, 297

humanism and, 413–14

reality as selection pressure, 355

See also evolution

nature

competition and arms races in, 19, 24–5

environmentalism, traditional view of, 122

purpose in, science as refuting, 8, 24, 394–5, 434–5

as robust, 133

Romanticism and, 30, 121

See also natural selection

Nawaz, Maajid, 443

Nazi Germany

Christianity of, 430

counter-Enlightenment ideology of, 397

eugenics and, 399

Holocaust, 161, 397, 399, 430

intellectual fans of, 447

Nietzsche as influence on, 445

public health invoked by, 399

“scientific racism” of, 397–8

See also Germany; Hitler, Adolf

Negativity bias, 47–8, 293

Negroponte, John, 310

Nemirow, Jason, 140

neo-fascism, 419, 448, 451

neo-reaction, 419, 451

Nepal, 203

Netherlands

commerce, embrace of, 84–5

emancipative values in, 225–7, 226, 227

happiness ranking of, 475n30

homicide rates in, 169, 170

life expectancy in, 95

literacy in, 236

populism repudiated in, 338–9

secularization and, 436

social spending in, 108

New Deal, 107–8

New England, homicide rates in, 169, 170

New Peace, 43

New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, 317, 318

Newton, Sir Isaac, 24

New York City, 172, 286–7, 380

New York Times, 44, 50, 74, 97, 151, 280, 292, 373, 409, 420

New Zealand

economic freedom in, 365, 483n39

education in, 237

and escape from poverty, 85

happiness and, 451, 475n30

IQ gains in, 241, 241

secularization and, 437, 438–9

social spending in, 365, 483n39

well-being and, 438–9, 451

women’s rights in, 222

Nicaragua, 158

Niebuhr, Reinhold, 311

Nietzsche, Friedrich, 443–7

cultural pessimism, advocate of, 39–40, 406

intellectuals and artists as fans, 445, 446–7, 452

quotations from, 444–5

See also romantic heroism

Niger, 203

Nigeria

democratization of, 203

famine in, 73

killings by Boko Haram in, 162

polio in, 65

secularization and, 436

terrorist deaths in, 193

Nisbet, Robert, 40

Nixon, Richard, 119

Nobel Peace Prize, 203, 232, 240, 316

Nomani, Asra, 443

Non-Proliferation Treaty (1970), 316–17

No Nukes concert and film (1979), 147

nonviolent resistance, success rate of, 405

non-Western Enlightenments, 29–30, 419, 439, 442–3, 456n2

Norberg, Johan, 54–5, 68, 79, 125, 203–4

Nordhaus, Ted, 122, 141–2, 147, 253–4

Nordhaus, William, 138, 253

Nordic countries

egalitarian income distribution in, 98

emancipative values in, 225–7, 226, 227

environment of, 130

and escape from poverty, 85

forced sterilization laws of, 399

human rights in, 208, 208

Norma Rae (film), 113

Norris, Pippa, 224, 340

North, Douglass, 83

North Korea

Arduous March, 78

as autocratic, 201–2

conflict with South Korea, 158

democratization and, 206

famine in, 78

human rights in, 208, 208

nuclear weapons and, 317, 320

poverty in, 90

Norvig, Peter, 477n20

Norway

emancipative values in, 225–7, 226, 227

happiness ranking of, 475n30

human rights in, 208, 208

income per capita in, 271

populism and, 341

nostalgia, 48, 113, 256

Nozick, Robert, 99

nuclear power, 144–5, 146–50, 330, 465n76

nuclear war, 307–321

balance of terror, 315

ban on (Global Zero), 315–17, 320–21

close calls, 310, 312–13, 318, 479nn93,95

deterrence and, 312, 314–15, 317

fear, failure to mobilize public, 308–311, 479n80

Graduated Reciprocation in Tension-Reduction (GRIT), 318, 320

historical pessimism and, 308

and international relations, 312, 315

launch on warning (hair trigger), 315, 319–20

Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), 315

nations with capacity, 313, 317–18, 318

New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), 317, 318

no-first-use pledge, 320

Non-Proliferation Treaty (1970), 316–17

nuclear winter, 308, 310

probability of nuclear war, 312–13

proliferation limited, 313

reduction of arsenal, 317–19, 318, 480nn113,117,121

second-strike capacity, 315, 319

security dilemma (Hobbesian trap) of, 315

Trump and, 336–7

nuclear weapons

arms race during Cold War, 291, 308, 311

complacency about, 286

Hiroshima bombing, 305

Manhattan Project and development of, 314

terrorism as threat, 310–311, 313–14

treaty banning atmospheric testing, 133–4

uranium extracted for power plants, 149, 317

Nunn, Sam, 316, 319

Nussbaum, Martha, 248, 264, 413

Nye, Bill, 434

Nyerere, Julius, 447

Obama, Barack

approval rating on departure, 338

bullying as issue for, 49

conspiracy theories about, 336, 358

farewell speech and Enlightenment, 338, 481n30

as first African American U.S. president, 214

health care and, 109

on income inequality, 97

on “now” as best time to be born, 37

and nuclear weapons, 316, 319, 320–21, 336–7

racism and, 217

Republican obstructionism and, 432

theoconservatives and, 449

Obamacare, 109

Obama, Michelle, 214

obesity epidemic, 69

objective measurement

actuarial formulas outperforming experts, 403–4

as goal of scientific literacy, 403–5

as morally enlightened, 43

Naomi Klein’s dismissal of, 139

resisters of scientific thinking objecting to, 403

See also data

occupational safety and accident deaths, 185–7, 187

Occupy Wall Street, 97

Oceania, postcolonial governments of, 201

oceans

acidification of, 137, 138, 153