Humanity's most spectacular era yet is increasingly within reach. So why are we doing everything we can to hold it back? The bestselling author of The Rational Optimist delivers a daring vision of the future - one that is potentially dazzling, but only if we stop sleepwalking into self-inflicted decline. We're on the brink of a truly spectacular explosion of productivity and prosperity, argues Matt Ridley, thanks to a combination of artificial intelligence, material science and genomic knowledge that is unprecedented in its scope and implications. With characteristic wit and ferocity, he confronts the irrational pessimism that dominates public discourse and examines the bureaucratic bloat, regulatory overreach, ideological superstition and crony capitalism that stand in the way. Optimistic in conclusion but unsparing in its analysis, The Flourishing is a rousing call to achieve and innovate by refusing to settle for a merely adequate future when a magnificent one is within reach.