Book · recommended on 2 episodes
The Better Angels of Our Nature
Steven Pinker ISBN 9780670022953
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Steven Pinker ISBN 9780670022953
Find it on AmazonAffiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
This book by Steven Pinker has come up 2 times across 2 different shows: Lex Fridman, Tim Ferriss. One of those mentions was a genuine on-air recommendation, not just a passing reference. The people who brought it up: Jack Kornfield, Lex Fridman. The earliest mention we indexed is from 2018-10-17 and the most recent from 2024-07-03. Every occurrence below links to the episode page and to the exact second it was said on YouTube.
We've all asked, "What is the world coming to?" But we seldom ask, "How bad was the world in the past?" In this startling new book, cognitive scientist Steven Pinker shows that the past was much worse. Evidence of a bloody history has always been around us: genocides in the Old Testament, gory mutilations in Shakespeare and Grimm, monarchs who beheaded their relatives, and American founders who dueled with their rivals. The murder rate in medieval Europe was more than thirty times what it is today. Slavery, sadistic punishments, and frivolous executions were common features of life for millennia, then were suddenly abolished.
“one of my favorite recent books is called the better angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker and he's a remarkable Professor”— Jack Kornfield
The guest here is Elizabeth Gilbert and Jack Kornfield: Elizabeth Gilbert is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, Big Magic, and City of Girls. Jack Kornfield is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock, one of the key figures who brought mindfulness practice to the West and author of 16 books. A 10th-anniversary super-combo episode pairing Elizabeth Gilbert on grief, intuition, and saying no with Jack Kornfield on meditation and compassion.
“starting from enlightenment now to the better angels of our nature blank slate how the mind works”— Lex Fridman
The guest here is Steven Pinker: Cognitive psychologist and linguist at Harvard; bestselling author on language, the mind, violence, and reason. Steven Pinker argues AI existential-threat fears are magical thinking, and that reason and engineering culture make AI a humanitarian boon.
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