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From Quotes by Steven Pinker
- Thinking is a physical process, the human brain is not exempt from evolution
- Reason is non-negotiable. Try to argue against it, or to exclude it from some realm of knowledge, and you've already lost the argument, because you're…
- We adults protect ourselves with laws, police, workplace regulations and social norms and there is no conceivable reason why children should be left more vulnerable,…
- Modern biblical scholars have established that the bible is a wiki. It was compiled over half a millennium from writers with different styles, dialects, character…
- In many Muslim countries, witchcraft is not only on the books as a crime, but is commonly prosecuted. In 2009, for example, Saudi Arabia convicted…
- 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 for…
- Humans are so innately hardwired for language that they can no more suppress their ability to learn and use language than they can suppress the…
- Reading is a technology for perspective-taking. When someone else's thoughts are in your head, you are observing the world from that person's vantage point.
- Academics lack perspective. In a debate on whether the world is round, they would argue, 'No,' because it's an oblate spheroid. They suffer from 'the…
- As individual people, embedded in our daily lives, of course we're interested in what makes one person different from another. We've got to hire one…
- But the newest research is showing that many properties of the brain are genetically organized, and don't depend on information coming in from the senses.
- Commerce is a noble profession, and Jews should get over any self-hatred they might harbor from contemplating the capitalist spirit of diaspora Judaism.
- If you aren't just brought up in your tribe but interact with other people either directly or vicariously, through journalism and literature, you see what…
- If you look in general at people who live in anarchy, they have quite high rates of death from either homicide or warfare or both.…
- Obviously no language is innate. Take any kid from any race, bring them up in any culture and they will learn the language equally quickly.…
- Some people believe that the nuclear bomb should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, since it scared the major powers away from war by equating…
- The reason the United States is not so likely to invade Iran is precisely because of the lessons learned from Iraq. And conversely, the Iranian…
- Nature is a hanging judge," goes an old saying. Many tragedies come from our physical and cognitive makeup. Our bodies are extraordinarily improbable arrangements of…
- If we are not to abandon values such as peace and equality, or our commitments to science and truth, then we must pry these values…
- Trivers, pursuing his theory of the emotions to its logical conclusion, notes that in a world of walking lie detectors the best strategy is to…
More From Quotes
- No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has… — Hannah Arendt
- Whenever u get hurt from those people whom u love most don't blame them, fault is not their its your fault that… — Anurag Prakash Ray
- Haiti, Haiti, the further I am from you, the less I breathe. Haiti, I love you, and I will love you always.… — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that's the thread that we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate… — Paul Auster
- Throughout all of this confusion, I hope I somehow get to you. I practice all the things I'd say to tell you… — Superman
- As far as we are concerned, we are ready to leave today, tomorrow, at any time, to join the people of Haiti,… — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- Sometimes people who want to understand Haiti from a political perspective may be missing part of the picture. They also need to… — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law. — Aristotle