Posted by In this conversation, John is joined by Professor Steven Pinker, world renowned cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist and public intellectual.
Reason, Optimism and the Limits of Wokeness | Professor Steven Pinker – YouTube
John and Steven discuss why, despite the profound influence of the Enlightenment on the modern world, so many have been captivated by postmodernism and critical theories which reject the essence of the Enlightenment – rationality and objective truth.
They consider what it is to be rational, how rationality relates to being morally ‘good’, the difference between wisdom and knowledge, science and it’s impact on modernity and why bad ideas so often stem from the halls of academia.
Steven applies his mind to other topical questions, including the erosion of free speech, the rise of artificial intelligence and how aspiring writers can hone their craft.
Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist who conducts research in visual cognition, psycholinguistics, and social relations. He earned his BA from McGill and his PhD from Harvard. Currently Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard, he has also taught at Stanford and MIT.
He has won numerous prizes for his research, his teaching, and his books. The latest published in 2021, is called ‘Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters’.
He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Humanist of the Year, a recipient of nine honorary doctorates, and one of Foreign Policy’s “World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals” and Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World Today.” He was Chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, and writes frequently for the New York Times, the Guardian, and other publications.
00:00 Intro 00:42 Introducing Stephen Pinker 01:18 Things are getting better, so why is the news so negative? 05:21 The relationship between rationality and morality 09:20 What is wisdom? 11:30 The state of western academia 16:18 Is there such a thing as western reason? 18:13 Without truth, all that’s left is power 19:58 Science progresses because we never know when we have the truth 20:55 Critical thinking, Censorship and Academia 22:33 Clever Sillies – Why smart people think such strange things 28:40 Reason and climate policy 35:40 Irrationality is nothing new 39:55 How suppressing speech locks in error 43:49 Keys to a productive debate 46:07 Are we becoming too reliant on technology? 48:45 The future? Good and bad 53:36 Why we ought to be optimistic about the future 58:29 How to use reading to improve your writing