Look Inside In Good Faith How the Nature of Belief Shapes the Fate of Societies

Do you find it difficult to find reasons to be optimistic about the future? Are you trying to understand the worsening institutional dysfunction we are witnessing around the world? In this book, Ryan Avent explores how absolute confidence in the systems of liberal democracy and free market capitalism-which he calls “modern faith” -has left many Western countries struggling to deal with democratic backsliding and social dysfunction.Those seeking to secure another technocratic solution are looking in the wrong place. Avent argues that the real basis for our prosperity lies not in our ability to think logically to reach better policies and institutions, but in the nature and distribution of our beliefs.Drawing on economics, history, philosophy, biology, and many more, Avent shows that our ability to believe is what binds us together, guides our behavior moment by moment and year by year, and determines the extent to which we collaborate in producing social and economic complexity. Faith, rather than being in conflict with science and reason, is the essence of human endeavor.By understanding the nature of faith and how it shapes the fabric of our society, we can find better ways to come together to confront the global crises of rising authoritarianism and climate change that threaten us all, and to find hope in each other.