593: Steven Pinker | Why Rationality Seems Scarce

Steven Pinker (@sapinker) is a psychology professor at Harvard, one of the world's leading authorities on language and the mind, and an author of several bestsellers. His latest is Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters. What We Discuss with Steven Pinker: Why, by most metrics, older generations are mistaken when they proclaim: "Things were better back in my day!" Alternatives we might consider if Universal Basic Income can't sustainably solve the problem of housing and feeding a workforce increasingly unemployed by automation. Why nostalgia is overrated, and how criticizing the present is very often a way of criticizing your rivals. If we're really living, as Steven says, in "the most peaceable era in our species’ existence," how does he explain why we still have wars, famines, uprisings, and genocides? What sentiment mapping shows us about the power of the media to manipulate us into seeing the world in a heavily negative light even as it's improving constantly on every measurable level. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/593 Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course! Miss the last time we had Navy SEAL leadership authority and Extreme Ownership co-author Jocko Willink on the show? Make sure to check out episode 93: Jocko Willink | Leading on the Line Between Extreme and Reckless! Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.