This is a really good engagement w Pinker's single-mindedness (at least as described, I haven't read the book) & it makes me wonder if this points to an issue with nonfiction "idea" books generally. 1/3https://twitter.com/jenszalai/status/968864077362720770 …
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Market pressures encourage the “This one big idea explains everything” approach. It’s easier to sell the book proposal, easier to promote, attractive to readers, easier to explain in interviews. The incentives all favor becoming the hammer to whom everything is a nail.
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But the "One big idea that explains everything” usually… doesn’t. There are exceptions, lacunae, things that the idea just doesn’t cover. But “It’s complicated” is a harder pitch, a harder sell, a harder explanation. So maybe that more complicated argument never gets made. 3/3
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Replying to @poniewozik
James, have I got a book for you to read.https://www.amazon.com/Ideas-Industry-Daniel-Drezner/dp/0190264608 …
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Replying to @poniewozik
I see what you did there. But, in five seconds: Big Idea “thought leaders” are crowding out “it’s complicated” public intellectuals because reasons. And it’s a Thing.
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