James Pethokoukis has a very interesting short interview with Matt Ridley, the author of “The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves.” It’s well worth a quick read and I suspect his book is well worth a long one.

The last answer that Ridley provides is a useful one for all of us to keep in mind. I know I’m often guilty of too much pessimism.

You did not ask me why intellectuals are all such pessimists. And my answer is that pessimism gets attention – from funders, from the media, from governments. Also, for reasons I do not fully understand, it sounds wiser than optimism.