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Quote by Steven Pinker

“Human evolution, at first, seems extraordinary. How could the process that gave rise to slugs and oak trees and fish produce a creature that can fly to the moon and invent the Internet and cross the ocean in boats?”

Quote by Steven Pinker

Author

Steven Pinker is a renowned cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author. His research focuses on language, cognition, and human behavior, particularly the relationship between language and thought. Pinker is known for his in-depth research on the evolution of language and his contributions to the field of cognitive science. more

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“I do look for openings where I can overturn popular misconceptions, but unlike Christopher Hitchens, I am neither a contrarian nor a lone heretic. I like to have a significant number of academics watching my back.”

Looks I Can Numbers Significant Opening Misconception Lone Heretic Significant Numbers

Author:Steven Pinker

“I have never been a fan of science fiction. For me, fiction has to explore the combinatorial possibilities of people interacting under the constraints imposed by our biology and history. When an author is free to suspend the constraints, it's tennis without a net.”

People Fiction Fans Possibility Science Fiction Tennis Biology Constraints Interacting

Author:Steven Pinker

“I spent 20 years doing research on regular and irregular verbs, not because I'm an obsessive language lover but because it seemed to me that they tapped into a fundamental distinction in language processing, indeed in cognitive processing, between memory lookup and rule-driven computation.”

Years Language Memories Lovers Research Fundamentals Driven Distinction Obsessive Verbs Cognitive Processing Computation Irregular Verbs

Author:Steven Pinker

“I think students should know something about religion as a historical phenomenon, in the same way that they should know something about socialism and humanism and the other great ideas that have shaped political philosophies and therefore the course of human events.”

Thinking Knows Way Should Humans Ideas Philosophy Political Courses Events Students Historical Humanism Socialism Phenomenon Political Philosophy Great Idea

Author:Steven Pinker

“I think this confusion leads intellectuals and artists themselves to believe that the elite arts and humanities are a kind of higher, exalted form of human endeavor.”

Thinking Believe Humans Kind Art Form Artist Humanity Higher Confusion Endeavor Elites Exalted Arts And Humanities

Author:Steven Pinker

“I try to jog in every city I visit, and I particularly enjoy harbour-front paths that let me ogle big ships, railroad bridges and the ruins of factories and warehouses.”

Trying Bigs Enjoy Cities Path Fronts Let Me Ships Ruins Bridges Factories Railroads Warehouse Harbour

Author:Steven Pinker

“If crime is going down, you shouldn't be increasing resources for crime prevention. Or you should be taking note of what has worked and concentrate the crime-prevention methods on policies that have a track record of success.”

Ifs Should Records Crime Policy Resources Method Notes Track Prevention Track Record

Author:Steven Pinker

“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 life is like from other points of view and are less likely to demonize them or dehumanize others and more likely to empathize with them.”

People Ifs Life Is Literature Views Point Of View Journalism Tribes Life Is Like

Author:Steven Pinker

“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. Anarchy is one of the main reasons for violence, and it may be the most important.”

People Ifs Looks May Important Reason Violence Rate Anarchy Warfare Homicide

Author:Steven Pinker

“In the 1970s, many intellectuals had become political radicals. Marxism was correct, liberalism was for wimps, and Marx had pronounced that 'the ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class.'”

Ideas Age Political Class Radical Liberalism Ruling Marxism Wimps

Book:The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

Source: The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature