To the extent that morality entails choosing to do the right thing by our fellow humans when one could have done otherwise, and often the right thing involves providing support, assistance, and especially honest, constructive feedback, many moral people did just that for me in the research, writing, and production of this book. First I would like to acknowledge the chief editor of this book, Ingrid Hansen Smythe, for her careful reading of every sentence and for providing exceptional critical commentary, feedback, references, source materials, clever quotes, and poignant anecdotes that improved the book beyond measure. To Pat Linse, for rendering all of the data graphs and charts into visual masterpieces easy to read and understand, and for her patience in the endless refinements and corrections. To Steven Pinker, not only for writing one of the most important social science books ever published—The Better Angels of Our Nature—but also for the many suggestions, additions, sources, corrections, and clarifications that have helped elevate this book to a level higher than it would have otherwise been; but most importantly for being such a good friend—tailwinds always. And to my editor Serena Jones, who understood what I wanted to do in integrating science, history, and morality, and to Allison Adler, for her many excellent edits and suggestions.
As with all of my books I thank my agents Katinka Matson, John Brockman, Max Brockman, Russell Weinberger, and the staff of Brockman, Inc., which does far more than any other literary agency I know of in crowd-sourcing a sizable community of world-class scientists, philosophers, and scholars to share their thoughts and to generate new ideas about the biggest topics one can imagine through the Edge.org web community.
I have been with the publisher of this book, Macmillan/Henry Holt/Times Books, since it published my first book, Why People Believe Weird Things, in 1997, and that long-term relationship means a lot to me as an author in knowing that my words will be edited and produced with the greatest of care. To that end I thank Paul Golob for his big vision on how my books fit into the larger publishing industry; Rita Quintas, my remarkable production editor, who read through the manuscript line by line and improved my prose beyond measure; and I want to appreciate the designer of the book, Kelly Too, whose design, layout, and typography turned digital word files into an elegant book; thanks too go to Maggie Richards in sales and marketing and Carolyn O’Keefe in publicity for the final step in the birth of a book in introducing it to the world.
Much of this book was written at my office, so I also wish to recognize the many fine people working at or associated with the Skeptics Society and Skeptic magazine, including Nicole McCullough, Ann Edwards, Daniel Loxton, William Bull, Jerry Friedman, and most especially my partner Pat Linse. Our many volunteers that make such an organization run smoothly deserve acknowledgment: senior editor Frank Miele; senior scientists David Naiditch, Bernard Leikind, Liam McDaid, Claudio Maccone, Thomas McDonough, and Donald Prothero; contributing editors Tim Callahan, Harriet Hall, Karen Stollznow, and Carol Tavris; editors Sara Meric and Kathy Moyd; photographer David Patton and videographer Brad Davies; and our many volunteers: Jaime Botero, Bonnie Callahan, Tim Callahan, Cliff Caplan, Michael Gilmore, Diane Knutdson, and Teresa Lavelle. Thanks as well for the institutional support for the Skeptics Society at the California Institute of Technology go to Eric Wood, Hall Daily, and Laurel Auchampaugh.
As well, I am also in debt to my lecture agent (who is now also my friend) Scott Wolfman and his team at Wolfman Productions (Diane Thompson and Miriam Pachniuk) for their contributions in bringing science and skepticism to the speakers’ circuit. And special thanks to my graduate student and teaching and research assistant Anondah Saide, who, along with Kevin McCaffree, helped me think through many of the moral issues this book considers.
Of all the writing I do none means more to me than my monthly column in Scientific American, which I began in April 2001. My editor, Mariette DiChristina, is in fact the editor in Chief and the first woman to hold that august post in this, the longest continuously published magazine in American history (175 years and counting). To her and my new editor Fred Guterl, I owe a deep debt of gratitude.
Finally, special thanks go to my daughter Devin Shermer, who is a tribute to the Flynn Effect in which IQ scores increase three points every ten years, which is about right in tracking how much smarter she is than I am. The love of a child by a parent is the ultimate in moral connectedness. And to my wife Jennifer—forever—to whom this book is dedicated, for the cover idea, for her many important suggestions in the text, and especially for enriching my life beyond measure.