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https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/...

⬐ fdgdasfadsf

Yeah I thought that would be posted. Steven Pinker's theories only work if you do things like imagine that we live in a world without slavery...

⬐ jhbadger

Pinker reminds me a lot of the Victorian Herbert Spencer. They were both social scientists fascinated by biology and who believed things were just getting better and better. Of course Spencer's fame took a nosedive when the first world war happened (which wasn't predicted at all by his rosy ramblings).

Why does someone self-identify as a rationalist?

I'll just speak for myself in answering your question. Other people who self-identify as rationalists may have other reasons. I self-identify as a rationalist because, after a lifetime of being curious and wanting to know what is true, I have found rationalism a powerful instrumental means of discovering truth. I have found from observation of my own life that knowledge of truth is itself an instrumental means for pursuing other useful goals (for example, making a living for my family) but anyway I think truth-seeking is part of human nature at its best and something fun and worthy for its own sake.

most bad things are propagated by extremely rational actors out of greed and self-interest

I might disagree with you about there being very many "extremely rational actors" in the world,

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stanovich1/Engli...

but I agree with you that many bad acts are prompted by greed and self interest. One of the greatest achievements of rational thought has been a deeper understanding of how human moral sentiments

http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Moral-Sentiments-Great-Philosop...

can be motivated by the actions of human beings pursuing their self-interest.

http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Nations-Bantam-Classics/dp/0553...

This discovery has resulted in considerable reduction of violence and other bad things over time,

http://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0...

and promises to provide continued blessings of more peace, prosperity, and freedom as it becomes more widely known to humankind. So I pursue rationalism as a positive good for my family and for my society, after having had a childhood upbringing with more nonrational dogmas than I know adhere to.

If only things were so simple in real life where liberty is often abused so as to threaten the safety of others.

The historical trend has been the other way around: as societies have become more free in general, they have also become safer in general. I would much rather live in the liberty of the United States, where I enjoy a crime-free neighborhood, than in the one-party dictatorship of China in the 1980s, where I saw more fights among strangers in public in three weeks in three different cities than I have seen in an entire lifetime traveling all over the United States.

See Steven Pinker's new book

http://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-Violence/dp/0...

for more about increasing safety of human societies over time (when the long-term trend has also plainly been in the direction of greater individual liberty for all aspects of human behavior).