Introducing “People I (Mostly) Admire"

Freakonomics Radio

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Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 32K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2020

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

A new interview show with host Steve Levitt. Today he speaks with the Harvard psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker. By cataloging the steady march of human progress, the self-declared “polite Canadian” has managed to enrage people on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Levitt tries to understand why.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. The time has come. This is the first episode of People I
0:05.6	Mostly Admire. It's hosted by Steve Levit, my Freakonomics friend and co-author.
0:10.3	Go subscribe right now wherever you get your podcasts. We will play the first few episodes here
0:15.2	in the Freakonomics Radio feed, but if you want to hear all the fascinating conversations,
0:20.0	Levit is going to have with amazing people. You should subscribe right now to People I Mostly Admire. Thanks.
0:30.1	For most of human history, their whole spheres where we just don't really insist on knowing what's
0:36.6	true or what's false. We want morally uplifting, dramatically compelling narratives.
0:42.9	Given that our species has transformed the world and discovered the secrets of life in the universe,
0:47.8	built amazing things, how do we do it despite these cognitive infirmities and how can we make ourselves
0:54.4	smarter? I first met Steve Pinker 15 years ago and I had one lunch with him and it was such a fabulous
1:07.5	conversation that I've been thinking about that lunch ever since. Welcome to People I Mostly Admire
1:15.2	with Steve Levit. He's an amazing thinker. He's a Harvard psychologist. He's a kind of person
1:21.6	to bring insight to any subject that comes up. My favorite research is the work he's done just
1:27.2	documenting the amazing progress that humankind has created over the last 200 years. I know it doesn't
1:34.1	feel like it right now or in the middle of the COVID-19. But I think it's important that we keep in
1:38.9	mind that we are on a positive track, even though right now it's not the best time.
1:48.0	Wow, such a pleasure to get to talk today with Steve and Pinker, not only one of the most
1:53.2	widely admired public intellectuals, but also a path-breaking linguist and a brain scientist.
1:59.0	So I've met a lot of brilliant people, but what makes you seem really special to me is that
2:05.3	it's over here I think in brilliant people to have any common sense. Would you agree with me that
2:09.9	common sense is one of your best attributes? I'm probably not the person to judge. I know from my
2:16.0	own field of psychology that we are all apt to overestimate our talents. And so if I were to say I
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