FAIR Perspectives Ep. 18 - Rationality: Why Should We Be Rational Optimists? w/ Steven Pinker

#stevenpinker #fairperspectives #angeleduardo #podcast #rationality #optimism #thelanguageinstinct #rationalism #enlightmentnow #thebetterangelsofournature #thesenseofstyle #theblankslate #howthemindworks

📢𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: We're excited to share that members of FAIR Community can now submit questions for upcoming Q&A episodes of FAIR Perspectives. To ask questions about FAIR, the

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00:01:04 Introduction
00:07:14 Humans have stumbled forward towards progress
00:11:46 Is Steven an Optimist?
00:16:16 Idealism vs Cynicism
00:19:50 We are not born as blank slates
00:23:56 "The world would be a better place if everyone just listened to me"- Bill Maher
00:25:42 Twitter can be awful but it can also be glorious
00:30:45 Are Algorithms to blame for ineffective discourse online?
00:35:09 Having better conversations on Social Media
00:44:03 The Euphemism Treadmill
00:48:32 The “R” word
01:01:16 Rationality: What it is, Why It seems scarce, Why it matters.
01:11:28 What can parents do to help their children become more rational?
01:14:32 #BeingProHuman

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Our guest this week is Steven Pinker. Steven is a cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. He has won numerous prizes for his research, his teaching, and his books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Sense of Style, Enlightenment Now, and most recently, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters.

In this episode we speak with Steven about his books, the public’s responses to them, and whether those books have had a positive effect. We talk about the euphemism treadmill and whether we can ever escape it, the misunderstandings of terms like optimism and idealism, the tensions between human nature and the potential for progress, social media and the ways we can improve it, and how we can all be more rational.


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Links to Steven's books:

The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing civil rights and liberties for all Americans, and promoting a common culture based on fairness, understanding and humanity.

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📢𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: We're excited to share that members of FAIR Community can now submit questions for upcoming Q&A episodes of FAIR Perspectives. To ask questions about FAIR, the pro-human movement, the podcast and more, sign up for FAIR Community at fairperspectives.org.

[TheArtemis]

I LOVE Steven Pinker! What a great conversation!
I love you, too, Angel. Your wife is a lucky lady.

[ChuckSilva]

You do a great job of hosting and listening. Steven Pinker is inspiring, interesting and informative. Thanks!!! ❤️

[pjs]

The Blank Slate, How the Mind Works, Enlightenment Now are all great books.

[JasonArentz]

Excellent conversation. Thanks for this!

[BoogsterSugar]

I'd rather be Gramscian: Pessimism of Reason and Optimism of the Will.
In trying and desperate times like these, reason doesn't offer optimism but the clear sight of injustice, and we shall not be optimistic of injustice, else we might not do enough to change it. Change comes from Will, and true Will to power must always be optimistic.