“Contemporary practitioners of the language, caught here at the annual World Congress of Esperanto, come across largely as sanguine but inconsequential, excited by the global reach of the language, but realistic about Esperanto’s niche status; a far cry from its utopian conception.”

Perhaps someone in the future will produce a film on the way that Esperanto has been undermined by political forces and economic interests that has led to this sanguine but inconsequential malaise. Esperanto has everything to play for once the ‘contemporary practitioners’ latch on to this.

The Enlightenment was never, at heart, a utopian movement. Most of what Condorcet said has actually come true: Europe’s colonies are all free, women’s contributions to society are more recognized and valued than ever, compulsory Christianity is pretty much dead (compulsory Islam: you’re next), science rules.

So yeah: Rumors of the death or irrelevance of the Enlightenment have been greatly exaggerated.