His bestselling books Our Nature’s Best Angels Enlightenment NowSteven Pinker (a Harvard linguist) made the surprising and controversial argument that humanity has been becoming richer over the past 200 years.
Rationality: Why it seems so difficult, what it is, and why it mattersHe argues that human beings must be able to think and reason critically in order to flourish. This is what underlies the Enlightenment’s phenomenal moral and material progress. Pinker explains cognitive problems such as myside bias and the sunk cost fallacy that cloud thinking. This leads to highly polarized worldviews and a “universities’ suffocating Left-Wing monoculture,” as QAnon.
Pinker, who isn’t afraid to speak out incontrovertibly, insists public policy must be guided largely by facts and not emotions, even when it comes to heart-breaking cases, such as George Floyd being killed by the police. He says There are reasonsNick Gillespie, of NBC, said that the goal should be to save as many people lives as possible. This includes black lives.A viral video may not be the best way. It is better to take the death toll from police officers and then compare that to those who are victims of gang violence or street crime. IYou might increase the death toll by humming the police. In fact, that is what actually happened.
There are reasonsTalked with Pinker Rationality, social progress, why, in spite of the negativity and fear in the world and the anger and frustration, he remains optimistic about the future.