Is Enlightenment Passé? How Knowledge Can Survive Fear, Irrationality and Rumor

This article explores whether the quest for knowledge is the motor of civilization and if knowledge depends on growth . It addresses current cultural pessimism vs the value of rationalism and the scientific method and culminates in some optimistic vision for the future. “The future is open. It is not predetermined and thus cannot be predicted – except by accident. The possibilities that lie in the…