Used book – The Long Ascent of Ignorance, Dimitri Casali

How can we stem the long rise of obscurantism and prepare for a more enlightened future? An essay by Dimitri Casali, a historian of debates and a committed polemicist.

Today, we all believe in the comforting idea that human history unfolds as continuous progress. Knowledge seems to accumulate naturally towards an increasingly rich, precise, and accurate collective and individual understanding. Every day, science amazes us with its discoveries.

And yet, today we face a colossal paradox.

In this hyper-connected and hyper-informed utopia, ignorance gains ground every day, and examples of obscurantism strengthening around us are multiplying.

Everywhere, thanks to the Internet, the most outlandish conspiracy theories spread with disconcerting ease on Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia. Around the world, creationist theories are enjoying spectacular success; 46% of Americans believe the Earth is less than 10,000 years old. The Arab world has a quarter of its population illiterate.

In France, 7% of the population remains illiterate (i.e., 3 million people), and the school system is in full collapse (27th in the PISA ranking).

Ignorance is still at work, in a bloody way, with Daesh's destruction of the cities of Palmyra, Nimrud, and Hatra. Today, Europe is stunned to discover that these jihadists, ready to pay with their lives to spread hatred, were raised on its soil, educated in its schools. These phenomena reveal something of a profound, global process that until now we have refused to face: the long rise of ignorance.