“Humour often cuts something down – it slights or disparages. But while Mark Stevenson finds plenty to chuckle over he never succumbs to cynicism about what might be in store… a refreshing reminder that the future will always belong to the optimists” ...
governments to engage in financial liberalization. This proved an enduring alliance for the promotion of financial integration, but increasing episodes of severe financial instability (Bordo et al., 2001) kept reminding even the optimists that the governance agenda required just as persistent attention....
to a large extent, embody the political imaginaries and power structures which they want to enable in society. Generally, the themes of decentralization of power, disintermediation from longstanding intermediaries like government and banks
Popular reactions to these developments have varied widely but many share a sense that we have crossed a threshold and are entering a new era. For some technocratic optimists this brave new world is full of the emancipatory promise of modern science. It presents new opportunities for human enhan...
Although it is possible to view everything in the world, including human beings, optimistically, blind optimists are not necessarily more sober and wiser than serious pessimists. On the contrary, the view of “evil human nature” can remind people to understand themselves more comprehensively, to...