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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 Sep 19

    Does the Enlightenment Need Defending? A written exchange between me and my Harvard colleague, postcolonial theorist Homi Bhabha. https://iainews.iai.tv/articles/does-the-enlightenment-need-defending-auid-1149 …?

    6:28 AM - 19 Sep 2018
    • 78 Retweets
    • 239 Likes
    • col_McHonk Jaime Andrés Suparna Mitra David Austin James lightbody caleb Nicolas Ashor Sarupen Akin Akinwumi, PhD
    12 replies 78 retweets 239 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Daniel Garcia‏ @dgarciaecon Sep 19
        Replying to @sapinker

        very strange conversation. bhabha says the world is not perfect and assumes that this is a cost of the Enlightenment. pinker says that this is tantamount to claiming that the past was better (wrong). it is tantamount to claiming that these "costs" would not be there without it.

        2 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
      3. Devjit Basu‏ @dbaasoo Sep 19
        Replying to @dgarciaecon @sapinker

        Bhabha implies that the uneven distribution of benefits is is caused by adhering to enlightenment principles. Pinker is saying the uneven distribution is correlated to the degree and length of time of adherance to enlightenment principles.

        0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
      4. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Meesto‏ @Sto_ology Sep 19
        Replying to @sapinker

        Yes it does! It created a huge division between western man and nature that has had the horrible, toxic ramifications of destroying the earth in just 200 years! I write a serious academic critique w/500 ref bibliography in my first book - Sto-ology available on amazon etc.pic.twitter.com/s0AEchDlZ4

        2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. Louis Boliou‏ @LCBoliou Sep 19
        Replying to @Sto_ology @sapinker

        There is another interesting fact. Developed countries have much lower birth rates than developing countries. Consider some possibilities: The touchstone of clean energy production, fusion power, is coming. Doomsayers rarely invent new tools, and are usually wrong.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. Meesto‏ @Sto_ology Sep 19
        Replying to @LCBoliou @sapinker

        I share your hope & optimism but I will not bury my head in the sand to where we are at right now with global warming, deforestation, plastic pollution etc!Peace & Prosperity via clean energy! Not Nuclear as Mr Pinker promotes-would he want the toxic waste buried in his backyard?

        2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. Louis Boliou‏ @LCBoliou Sep 20
        Replying to @Sto_ology @sapinker

        The so called “toxic waste” is potential fuel for much safer future thorium reactors (unless you prefer depleted uranium tank shells). You obviously know little about nuclear technology, and the progress therein.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      6. Meesto‏ @Sto_ology Sep 23
        Replying to @LCBoliou @sapinker

        Like myth/lie of clean coal, there is no such thing as waste free nuclear power.I'm not a nuclear power expert but anyone can do a little research & find out for themselves. Einstein said definition of insanity is to "keep repeating the same mistake expecting a different outcome"

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      7. Louis Boliou‏ @LCBoliou Sep 23
        Replying to @Sto_ology @sapinker

        Except, the concentrated “waste” can be managed safely, and used as future fuel for advanced reactors. There is little options. Cost per kw/hr of large-scale photovoltaic energy (Inc. Capital cost) ~0.22$. Cost at PVNGS, ~0.06$.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      8. Meesto‏ @Sto_ology Sep 24
        Replying to @LCBoliou @sapinker

        OMG! Again, full circle - would you want this 'safe' radioactive waste in your backyard? Be honest. Geez Louise! OR Louis!

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      9. End of conversation
      1. vivek iyer‏ @indglish Sep 23
        Replying to @sapinker

        Bhabha gets Kant hilariously wrong. Still, 'Enlightenment' doesn't correlate to anything material at all- it could be Buddhist or Aesthetic. Competitive Nationalism does kill off elitist Paideia in favor of STEM subjects. That's always good. http://socioproctology.blogspot.com/2018/09/steve-pinker-vs-homi-bhabha-cashing-in.html …

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. M or N‏ @Meehaul Sep 23
        Replying to @sapinker

        Bhanha is, as usual, an obscurantist.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Dr.Hakim‏ @DrHakim2 Sep 19
        Replying to @sapinker

        The first verse of revelation from the Quran was the commandment Read! Revealed during Europe's Dark age very little reading was going on. Take the Quran out of the world's history and see where your vaunted "enlightenment" lands. The whole world benefited from Quran's presence

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Bryer Sophia-Gardener‏ @BryerSophi Sep 19
        Replying to @sapinker

        Dr. Bhabha's position is unclear. Perhaps "tension" would be a better word than "paradox". Enlightenment humanism seeks maximization of well being, so that policy principles are generally general rather than universal, applying only when they serve humanism's purpose.

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. Bryer Sophia-Gardener‏ @BryerSophi Sep 19
        Replying to @BryerSophi @sapinker

        Any resolution of the question of when to recognize an exception or follow the general rule can raise the issue of whether the resolution was genuinely humanistic or part of a pattern of favoritism. Tensions between competing reasons and interests are characteric of humanism.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. End of conversation
      1. 𝔼𝕝𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕕 ℍ𝕦𝕓𝕓𝕒𝕣𝕕‏ @VladTehEmailer Sep 19
        Replying to @sapinker

        Shoulda been all like, waddup my Homi?

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Veritas‏ @CarlAtteniese Sep 19
        Replying to @sapinker

        Do you not have goggles for the occasion, Prof. @sapinker ?

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Louis Boliou‏ @LCBoliou Sep 19
        Replying to @sapinker

        With our micro-temporal life spans, we bias our “data thinking” towards the subjective. Progress is difficult to see within our single data point. Pinker brings historical data into the discussion, which creates a perturbation in the more subjective conscience.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Louis Boliou‏ @LCBoliou Sep 19
        Replying to @sapinker

        First, one needs to establish the underlying premises of “The Enlightenment”—beyond simply stating it’s source is reason and science. Most material progress has been created by that creature called the entrepreneur. A rare species only found in free environments of expression.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Der Geist‏ @SaneGeist Sep 19
        Replying to @sapinker

        Maybe you need the plural : Enlightenments

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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