Statisticians tell us that people underestimate the sheer number of coincidences that are bound to happen in a world governed by chance.Steven Pinker
Why do people believe that there are dangerous implications of the idea that the mind is a product of the brain, that the brain is organized in part by the genome, and that the genome was shaped by natural selection?Steven Pinker
But the newest research is showing that many properties of the brain are genetically organized, and don't depend on information coming in from the senses.Steven Pinker
No one knows what the nongenetic causes of individuality are. Perhaps people are shaped by modifications of genes that take place after conception, or by haphazard fluctuations in the chemical soup in the womb or the wiring up of the brain or the expression of the genes themselves.Steven Pinker
M.I.T. has a reputation for turning out Dilberts. They may be brilliant in what they do, but no one can understand what they say.Steven Pinker
Evolutionary psychology is one of four sciences that are bringing human nature back into the picture.Steven Pinker
My politics were pretty anarchistic until 1969 when the Montreal police went on strike. Within hours, mayhem and rioting broke out and the Mounties had to be called in to restore order. It instilled in me that one's convictions can be subjected to empirical test.Steven Pinker
If you aren't just brought up in your tribe but interact with other people either directly or vicariously, through journalism and literature, you see what life is like from other points of view and are less likely to demonize them or dehumanize others and more likely to empathize with them.Steven Pinker
Paris Hilton, it turns out, is related to fellow celebrity jailbirds Zsa Zsa Gabor and G. Gordon Liddy.Steven Pinker
The decline of violence is a fractal phenomenon. You can see it over millennia, over centuries, over decades and over years.Steven Pinker
