From Steven Pinker’s edge.org article The False Allure of Group Selection. Pinker argues that the more carefully you think about group selection, the less sense it makes, and the more poorly it fits the facts of human psychology and history. Human Psychology and Bees? So for the time being we can ask, is human psychology [...]
Steven Pinker
Why do people get so upset about hearing certain words? In this two-part talk (transcript), Steven Pinker explains one of his books: The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature. While the mixture of psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and linguists is not safe for work, it’s certainly worth watching. Still curious? Read the [...]
Ok, so you’ve seen the nine books Bill Gates is Reading this summer. Gates has some pretty smart friends and they were kind enough to share what they were reading this summer too. ****** Vinod Khosla is one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems,and founder of the firm Khosla Ventures, which focuses on venture investments [...]
I always find it interesting to see what smart people are reading. Here is a peak at what Bill Gates is reading this summer. The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker Gates writes, “I’m absolutely nuts about (this book.) … Pinker makes the case that over time, humans have become much less violent [...]
Christian Jarrett created a list of the best psychology books in 2011 for the the BPS Research Digest: Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer. The Sunday Times describes Foer’s story of how he became American Memory Champion as “the most entertaining science book of the year”. The Indy [...]
Steven Pinker reviews Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength in the Sunday NYT Book review: What is this mysterious thing called self-control? When we fight an urge, it feels like a strenuous effort, as if there were a homunculus in the head that physically impinged on a persistent antagonist. We speak of exerting will power, [...]
Steven Pinker reviewed Malcolm Gladwell’s book “What the Do Saw” in the New York Times book review. Gladwell sent the following letter to the editor in response: It is always a pleasure to be reviewed by someone as accomplished as Stephen Pinker, even if—in his comments on “What the Dog Saw” (Nov. 15)—he is unhappy [...]
