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The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Daily: Steven Pinker on the Rationality Trap

The Bunker – News without the nonsense

Podmasters

News, Government, Politics, Society & Culture

4.61K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2021

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As the human race reaches new heights of scientific understanding, why then does it seem to be losing its mind? Are humans inherently irrational beings? Professor Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist and author of the new book Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters, talks to Alex Andreou about how irrationality occurs within our society, and why we need to embrace the notion that humans are naturally rational. “I wanted to explain why a species as rational as ours is vulnerable to so much nonsense” “There are stupid people who are rational and smart people who are irrational” “The reason that persuasion is still called for is that not everyone is a dyed-in-the-wool true believer” “The successful politicians are the ones that have ideas, but also know how to reach people” “If people are unaware progress has taken place, they could look to turn the clock back” Presented by Alex Andreou. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

My name is Stan. I'm at. Nice to meet you. So you took up photography where? I've always loved

0:05.5

photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.

0:11.8

Well college. I loved going to college. It's good you can retry. I'm enrolled on the day course. But college?

0:13.0

I loved going to college.

0:14.0

It's good you can retrain and do something.

0:16.0

Yeah, yeah.

0:17.0

Let's talk about working, learning, saving and making the most of living longer.

0:22.0

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0:28.0

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0:30.0

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0:32.0

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0:36.7

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0:55.3

look after theirs with dental life. Pick up dental life in the pet food aisle. Hello and welcome to the bunker daily I am your host Alexandro.

1:12.4

As a cognitive scientist I cannot accept the cynical view that the human brain is a basket of delusions.

1:20.0

Hunter-gatherers, our ancestors and contemporaries are not nervous rabbits, but cerebral problem solvers,

1:27.5

a list of the ways in which we're stupid can't explain why we're so smart.

1:36.2

These are the words of Professor Stephen Pinker in his latest book Rationality, what it is, why it seems scarce, white matters, in which he argues that we are

1:42.4

as a species more Mr Spock than Homer Simpson.

1:46.2

I am delighted to welcome him. Professor Stephen Pinker, welcome to the bunker.

1:50.7

Thank you. Stephen Schopenhauer on authorship, as you will know, observe that there are two kinds of writers.

1:57.6

Those who write for the sake of writing and those who write because they have something they want to say, the body of your work leads me to think

2:05.3

you are the latter. So let me begin by asking you straight up. What did you set out to say with

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