This REDUX revisits London Real’s 2013 interview with cognitive scientist Steven Pinker. It was released just after Mark Zuckerberg picked Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature for his “A Year of Books” club, sending it from 6,521st to 501st on Amazon’s chart within hours.
With the rise of Islamic State and Boko Haram and the events in Paris, it would be easy to believe the world is getting darker. Pinker argues the opposite: violence is in decline, a striking idea in a media-driven world where atrocity seems impossible to escape. He also explains how archaic structures of morality and thinking have perpetuated conflict rather than preventing it. He is a pleasure to listen to, sharing his ideas with passion and authority.
Who is Steven Pinker?
Steven Pinker is a linguist and cognitive scientist. His work has been championed by Bill Gates, who on his blog Gates Notes called it “important” and “a contribution, not just to historical scholarship, but to the world.”
