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sapinker's profile
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Verified account
@sapinker

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Steven PinkerVerified account

@sapinker

Cognitive scientist at Harvard.

Boston, MA
pinker.wjh.harvard.edu
Joined January 2010

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    Steven Pinker‏Verified account @sapinker Aug 28

    Hence the biggest misconception about Enlightenment Now. It's not a plea for "optimism." It's a plea for ACCURACY. Before opining on which way the world is going, why not check the facts?https://stevenpinker.com/publications/enlightenment-now-case-reason-science-humanism-and-progress#.W4WUGZUJxcQ.twitter …

    11:29 AM - 28 Aug 2018
    • 294 Retweets
    • 1,172 Likes
    • Peter Wiacek Chris Stager Litt Romney Grey Area nancy neff Daniel Knutsen j o s h u a a d a m s Corine Ricardo Pozzo
    39 replies 294 retweets 1,172 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. George‏ @gfeneberg Aug 28
        Replying to @sapinker

        the facts seem pretty clear with war, historical genocide, half the world makes 2 bucks a day, what evidence are you looking at? I don't want to hear about people moving from extreme poverty to poverty that is not making shit better. I don't see the same results you do I guess.

        7 replies 0 retweets 7 likes
      3. R. A.‏ @rax82 Aug 28
        Replying to @gfeneberg @sapinker

        What evidence? The book is more than 500 pages, if you are sincerely interested in the evidence then maybe you should read it. Also, how is poverty not better than extreme poverty? No one is claiming we live in a utopia.

        1 reply 0 retweets 22 likes
      4. George‏ @gfeneberg Aug 28
        Replying to @rax82 @sapinker

        So you claim there is no war or has been no genocide take a look around go travel and see for yourself reality real life has more impact than some stupid book full of graphs based on samples

        1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
      5. R. A.‏ @rax82 Aug 28
        Replying to @gfeneberg @sapinker

        What does that even mean? You disregard scientific research because it's "based on samples?" You realize that means disregarding practically all scientific research? Of course there are still terrible things happening in the world, no one is arguing otherwise.

        1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
      6. George‏ @gfeneberg Aug 28
        Replying to @rax82 @sapinker

        I don't disregard it. How crazy would it be if we made no progress at all, it has to make some progress. I argue that by being complacent like his book seems to suggest we forego increasing the velocity of progress. Just seems oxymoron sample and accuracy. They are not 100%

        1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
      7. R. A.‏ @rax82 Aug 28
        Replying to @gfeneberg @sapinker

        He doesn't suggest that we be complacent--in fact the exact opposite. He makes it a point (in the introduction even, IIRC) to make clear that that this progress isn't inevitable. He argues that the progress is a result of enlightenment ideas and that we should defend them.

        0 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
      8. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Jodie jackson‏ @JacksonJodie21 Aug 28
        Replying to @sapinker

        It’s incredible that by recognising progress you are considered an optimist and by recognising problems and failures you are considered a realist. We must understand progress to help us become less naive about the world! #EnlightenmentNow

        1 reply 2 retweets 17 likes
      3. 1 more reply
      1. New conversation
      2. John Champagne‏ @TallPhilosopher Aug 28
        Replying to @sapinker

        We do not live in a sustainable society. You seem to not believe that, or are inexplicably unconcerned. The impressive gains you cite will be lost if we fail to address systemic flaws. Use moral sense: http://gaiabrain.blogspot.com/2008/12 pic.twitter.com/iQtomyc0bA

        1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes
      3. van Wollfe‏ @vanWollfe Aug 28
        Replying to @TallPhilosopher @sapinker

        Did you read the book? Pinker literally says that climate change is the greatest problem humanity has ever faced. Where do you get off saying he is unconcerned? The quote that you cite discusses grinding poverty, which is, undebatably improving, faster than any time in history.

        2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
      4. John Champagne‏ @TallPhilosopher Aug 28
        Replying to @vanWollfe @sapinker

        He has made mention of the challenge. I have not seen him promote any proposal that would bring rates of carbon emissions into line w/ what most ppl think is acceptable. I don't see that he has said our society is unsustainable. (~1 billion ppl in severe poverty in 1800, & now.)

        3 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      5. van Wollfe‏ @vanWollfe Aug 30
        Replying to @TallPhilosopher @sapinker

        There's no better way to trivialize the reduction in poverty than to cite it the way you just did. More than 90% of the world's population down to less than 10% in destitution. Rates plummeting far faster than the population is growing. This stuff actually matters.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      6. John Champagne‏ @TallPhilosopher Aug 31
        Replying to @vanWollfe @sapinker

        We live in an unsustainable society. Any celebrated gains are temporary unless we address that fact. To secure long-term success, we must account for econ. externalities, so that ecological degradation, resource depletion will not be profitable. Solution: http://gaiabrain.blogspot.com/2018/06/natural-law-requires-respect-of-public.html …pic.twitter.com/mo9tQtKsV9

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      7. End of conversation
      1. Rob Naro‏ @RobNaro Aug 28
        Replying to @sapinker

        How dare you believe problems can be solved sir? What's next nuance?

        0 replies 0 retweets 7 likes
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      1. Jules P. Hamilton‏ @JulespHamilton Aug 28
        Replying to @sapinker

        https://politics.theonion.com/quantum-political-scientists-hypothesize-country-headed-1819578157 …

        0 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
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      1. Joe Smith  🇨🇦‏ @joesmith323 Aug 28
        Replying to @sapinker

        "check the facts" That might be a / the core principle of the Enlightenment itself.

        0 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Joe Wrightson‏ @JoeWrig Aug 28
        Replying to @sapinker

        Most of us do not live our lives contemplating a selection of quantifiable 'facts.' We live in the world where despair cannot be ignored; where every uplifting 'fact' is far outweighed by evidence of human folly and hubris. Pride precedes tragedy.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      3. Alex Richmond‏ @greenslime300 Aug 28
        Replying to @JoeWrig @sapinker

        Right, but it's not about how you live your life. The book is about humanity at the global level, and what factors have correlated to what benefits. At a time when there's a global conservative push against progress, these facts need to be understood

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. Joe Wrightson‏ @JoeWrig Aug 28
        Replying to @greenslime300 @sapinker

        Maybe, but his facts are selective. The context is narrow. The trends Pinker touts are fragile and can reverse at any time. He promotes complacency and blind faith in science.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. Alex Richmond‏ @greenslime300 Aug 28
        Replying to @JoeWrig @sapinker

        You do understand that science is the antithesis of blind faith, right? If the trends are so fragile, why aren't they reversing? Pinker seeks to explain and highlight the trends. I don't see that as complacency, nor do I see a problematic ideology behind it

        1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
      6. Joe Wrightson‏ @JoeWrig Aug 29
        Replying to @greenslime300 @sapinker

        No, I do not understand science as an 'antithesis' of blind faith. Science cannot solve all of our problems. Technological advances initiate new problems. To assume otherwise requires a leap of faith.

        2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      7. Joe Wrightson‏ @JoeWrig Aug 29
        Replying to @JoeWrig @greenslime300 @sapinker

        Look, Pinker's shtick is annoying because he does indeed reiterate that those who see dark times ahead are foolish or stupid. It is exactly about how you live your life. Do you trust the controlling powers or do you not?

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      8. Joe Wrightson‏ @JoeWrig Aug 29
        Replying to @JoeWrig @greenslime300 @sapinker

        The global progress you cite comes at great cost. There is a reciprocal loss of individual autonomy with each 'benefit.' Science in the service of global corporatism is a power for enslavement of the many.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      9. Joe Wrightson‏ @JoeWrig Aug 29
        Replying to @JoeWrig @greenslime300 @sapinker

        Maximizing short-term profit implicitly accepts faith in progress. No redundancy in corporate metrics that do not account for long-term costs, costs in human autonomy. W/r/t Pinker's faithful trends, see Nassim Nicholas Taleb's takedown of his statistical methodology.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      10. 8 more replies

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