The decline of violence isn't a steady inclined plane from an original state of maximal and universal bloodshed. Technology, ideology, and social… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
But the 20th century suffered "two" ideologies that led to genocides. The other one, Marxism, had no use for race, didn't believe… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
We adults protect ourselves with laws, police, workplace regulations and social norms and there is no conceivable reason why children should be… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
By denying people's sense of visual beauty in painting and sculpture , melody in music , meter and rhyme in poetry ,… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Of course genes can’t pull the levers of our behavior directly. But they affect the wiring and workings of the brain, and… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Much of what is today called "social criticism" consists of members of the upper classes denouncing the tastes of the lower classes… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Feminism as a movement for political and social equity is important, but feminism as an academic clique committed to eccentric doctrines about… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“Friendship, like other kinds of altruism, is vulnerable to cheaters, and we have a special name for them: fair-weather friends. These sham… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“cademics and intellectuals are culture vultures. In a gathering of today’s elite, it is perfectly acceptable to laugh that you barely passed… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Technology, ideology, and social and cultural changes periodically throw out new forms of violence for humanity to contend with. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The researchers argued that an orderly environment fosters a sense of responsibility not so much by deterrence (since Groningen police rarely penalize… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
The likelihood that inborn differences are one contributor to social status does not mean that it is the only contributor. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Forcing modern speakers of English to not - whoops, not to split an infinitive because it isn't done in Latin makes about as much… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Consistent style prevents presentation from getting in the way of content. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
The supposedly immaterial soul, we now know, can be bisected with a knife, altered by chemicals, started or stopped by electricity, and extinguished by… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
I've never argued that humans are massively hot-wired. What I was trying to point out was that you can't understand how we learn unless… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
As many political writers have pointed out, commitment to political equality is not an empirical claim that people are clones. — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Since violence is largely a male pastime, cultures that empower women tend to move away from the glorification of violence and are less likely… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
When it comes to explaining human thought and behavior, the possibility that heredity plays any role at all still has the power to shock.… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Morality is not just any old topic in psychology but close to our conception of the meaning of life. Moral goodness is what gives… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The biblical story of the binding of Isaac shows that human sacrifice was far from unthinkable in the 1st millennium BCE. The Israelites boasted… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
Part of the bargain of being alive is that one takes a chance at dying a premature or painful death, be it from violence,… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
In fact, without a specification of a creature's goals, the very idea of intelligence is meaningless. A toadstool could be given a genius award… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
“The obvious cure for the tragic shortcomings of human intuition in a high-tech world is education. And this offers priorities for educational policy: to… — Steven Pinker Copy Share Image
