"With all of the threats from the identitarian left and the populist right and the nationalist leaders and the religious fundamentalists, is there any hope?"
Steven Pinker takes comfort in the fact that when considered in the context of game theory - the identification of the rational thing to do in a situation where the outcome depends on what other rational people do - shared values help find common ground.
"Humanistic values have a kind of built-in advantage in that they're the only things that you can defend when you have a negotiation with someone who is unlike you.
"We'd all rather be alive than dead. We'd rather be healthy than sick. We'd rather be educated than ignorant and illiterate. There's a long list of things that we share because we are human, despite all of our differences." - Steven Pinker
Video: Game Theory Can Explain Humanity’s Biggest Problem | Steven Pinker