Episode #1743
Steven Pinker
Books mentioned
The Count of Monte Cristo
Mentioned by Joe Rogan (host) · at 00:00:26 · ▶︎ Watch this moment on YouTube (approximate)
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
Lovely Bones
Mentioned by Joe Rogan (host) · at 01:04:32 · ▶︎ Watch this moment on YouTube (approximate)
Amazon (opens in a new tab; affiliate link) Source: Transcript (podscripts.co)
1984
Mentioned by Steven Pinker · at 01:12:55 · ▶︎ Watch this moment on YouTube (approximate)
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.
Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker discusses rationality, cognitive biases, motivated reasoning, and how people construct narratives from unreliable memories. He and Joe Rogan examine Bayesian reasoning, extraordinary claims, conspiracy theories, surveillance, false convictions, climate-change denial, nuclear energy, misinformation, and the institutions and identities that shape belief.
What they talked about
- Photography and visual cognition
- Wind turbines and climate change solutions
- Nuclear waste storage feasibility
- Rationality in policing and effective altruism
- Political polarization and conspiracy theories
- Ted Kaczynski's psychological development
- False memories and eyewitness testimony
- Jeffrey Epstein's scientific connections
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.