Episode #1073
Steven Pinker
Books mentioned
The Selfish Gene
Mentioned by Steven Pinker · at 00:11:53
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
The Sense of Style
Mentioned by Steven Pinker · at 00:31:00
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
Enlightenment Now
Mentioned by Steven Pinker · at 00:31:00
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co) · Official episode description (podcast RSS)
The Blank Slate
Mentioned by Steven Pinker · at 01:26:14
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
Moneyball
Mentioned by Steven Pinker · at 01:45:30
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
The Better Angels of Our Nature
Mentioned by Steven Pinker · at 01:51:44
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
Timestamps are segment start times from the podscripts.co transcript of the audio release (includes ad reads), so they may differ from the video by a few minutes.
Steven Pinker, a cognitive psychologist and Harvard professor, joins to discuss his book "Enlightenment Now" and its case for reason, science, and human progress. The conversation covers social media outrage, political tribalism, the negativity bias in news, and evidence of declining violence, along with the importance of journalistic ethics and free markets.
What they talked about
- Alt-right controversy and taboo topics
- Social media outrage culture and flaming
- Reputation and cooperation in human evolution
- Historical panics over new media
- Moral panics and mass delusions
- Curse of knowledge in writing
- Flynn effect and rising intelligence
- Negativity bias in news and perception
Data last updated · Report a mistake · How it works: mentions are pulled from public transcripts and episode descriptions, partly with AI-assisted extraction, so details and timestamps can be off.