Steven Pinker Quotes - Page 11

Quotes about:

• If the cartoon were completely accurate, though, life would be a cacophany of spoinks.

  Steven Pinker

  Cartoon, Would Be, Accurate

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• An ideology can provide a satisfying narrative that explains chaotic events and collective misfortunes in a way that flatters the virtue and competence of believers, while being vague or conspiratorial enough to withstand skeptical scrutiny.

  Steven Pinker

  Events, Narrative, Way

  "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined". Book by Steven Pinker, www.huffingtonpost.com. 2011.

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• Evolutionary psychology is one of four sciences that are bringing human nature back into the picture.

  Steven Pinker

  Psychology, Four, Human Nature

  "A biological understanding of human nature". Edge Interview, www.edge.org. September 18, 2017.

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• The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during the Enlightenment and during the framing of the American Constitution.

  Steven Pinker

  Book, Political, Enlightenment

  "A biological understanding of human nature". Edge Interview, www.edge.org. September 8, 2002.

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• The linguistic clumsiness of tourists and students might be the price we pay for the linguistic genius we displayed as babies, just as the decrepitude of age in the price we pay for the vigor of youth.

  Steven Pinker

  Baby, Age, Tourists

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• It's the old idea that the process of evolution is some push in the direction of greater complexity--in particular greater intellectual complexity. In one twig of the tree of life, namely ours, having a big brain happened to have advantages. But that's just what worked for a particular species of primate 5 to 7 million years ago.

  Steven Pinker

  Ideas, Years, Tree

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• We really are creatures of a violent world, biologically speaking - watching violence and learning about it is one of our cognitive drives.

  Steven Pinker

  Violence, World, Violent

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• People are under the impression that dictionaries legislate language. What a dictionary does is keep track of usages over time.

  Steven Pinker

  Track, People, Doe

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• Paris Hilton, it turns out, is related to fellow celebrity jailbirds Zsa Zsa Gabor and G. Gordon Liddy.

  Steven Pinker

  Paris, Turns, Related

  "Surprising Family Trees!". abcnews.go.com. October 18, 2007.

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• One of the perks of being a psychologist is access to tools that allow you to carry out the injunction to know thyself.

  Steven Pinker

  Tools, Psychologist, Know Thyself

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• Of course, genes can't pull the levers of our behavior directly. But they affect the wiring and workings of the brain, and the brain is the seat of our drives, temperaments and patterns of thought.

  Steven Pinker

  Brain, Patterns, Levers

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• One of my favourite kinds of movie is the American picaresque, in which the characters make their way across the country, learning about life against the gorgeous backdrops of that vast land.

  Steven Pinker

  Country, Character, Land

  "My week" by Steven Pinker, www.theguardian.com. October 14, 2007.

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• Like the early days of the Internet, the dawn of personal genomics promises benefits and pitfalls that no one can foresee.

  Steven Pinker

  Promise, Benefits, Dawn

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• People know there is a difference between what you do and what you accept. There is a difference between me knowing that people swear, me hearing people swear and me swearing, and everyone accepting that this is something you can do as much as you like.

  Steven Pinker

  Differences, Knowing, People

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• Language mavens commonly confuse their own peeves with a worsening of the language.

  Steven Pinker

  Mavens, Language, Peeves

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• Photography is a demanding action sport. The light can change so quickly. I often find myself sprinting so that I can catch the perfect light falling on a photogenic subject.

  Steven Pinker

  Sports, Photography, Fall

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• Regardless of its causes, thoughtlessly blaming the present is a weakness which, even if it is never outlawed, ought to be resisted. Though commonly flaunted as a sign of sophistication, it can be an opportunity for one-upmanship and an excuse for misanthropy, especially against the young.

  Steven Pinker

  Opportunity, Weakness, Causes

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• I like ice hockey. No one is ever going to ask me to write about that as a metaphor for life.

  Steven Pinker

  Writing, Hockey, Ice

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• So no, it's not all in the genes, but what isn't in the genes isn't in the family environment either. It can't be explained in terms of the overall personalities or the child-rearing practices of parents.

  Steven Pinker

  Children, Practice, Personality

  "A biological understanding of human nature". Edge Interview, www.edge.org. September 18, 2017.

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• I get drawn in when I feel there is something deep and mysterious going on beneath the surface of something.

  Steven Pinker

  Mysterious, Beneath The Surface, Surface

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• I teach classes 28 weeks of the year, but the rest of the time I do research and write books.

  Steven Pinker

  Book, Writing, Years

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