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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 20 Dec 2017

    Why humans are cruel: Interview with Paul Bloom. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/12/14/16687388/violence-psychology-human-nature-cruelty?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=entry&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter … via @voxdotcom

    7:22 AM - 20 Dec 2017
    • 151 Retweets
    • 298 Likes
    • Erik Tammar Pan SanskritCollegeLinguistics E-SIX | The Crossfader King Pavlos Msaouel, MD, PhD Michele McKenzie Rishi Dagar Jon Gurutz Arranz Izquierdo Kris Jacobson
    17 replies 151 retweets 298 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. SageThinker‏ @SageThinker99 21 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @voxdotcom

        I would urge people to read about "wetiko" and what it means. I think that such cruelty is not quite normal for the species, but moreso only for our specific civilization (in place and time) -- the Eurocentric / hierarchical brand of exploitive society with violent trappings.

        1 reply 1 retweet 1 like
      3. NodeDog‏ @nodedog 21 Dec 2017
        Replying to @SageThinker99 @sapinker @voxdotcom

        I have read about wetiko from time to time though not in great depth. I am thinking abt it now because of the GOP and their tax bill. I am astound that this whole group of humans could act in such a soulless way. It is as if they are all infected with an insane spirit

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      4. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Wendy Stewart‏ @StewysMiles 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @JoyceCarolOates @voxdotcom

        Animals can be humiliated and are so all the time

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      3. Cuckasaurus Rex‏ @bray_keenan 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @StewysMiles @sapinker and

        That's kind of a good point... most animals aren't killed for anything other than food but there are sadists out there that take pleasure in the pain they inflict on animals. Still, I think Bloom is right that there is much more to it than dehumanization.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      4. Wendy Stewart‏ @StewysMiles 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @bray_keenan @sapinker and

        Also I've seen my cats look like their pride has been hurt as well :)

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      5. OneDarkHorse‏ @Onedarkhorse 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @StewysMiles @bray_keenan and

        That sounds a lot like an anthropomorphic projection. There could be some truth to it though. But for example we often misread the behaviour of dogs as shame, when it's actually fear.

        0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
      6. End of conversation
      1. Sean Jason Webb‏ @SeanJasonWebb 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @voxdotcom

        Bloom is da bomb.

        0 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Roxane‏ @brigadam 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @graham_jeacocke @sapinker @voxdotcom

        Hell, a burning lake of eternal fire, is a New Testament concept.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
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      4. Roxane‏ @brigadam 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @graham_jeacocke @sapinker @voxdotcom

        I’m an atheist, so I think it’s all nonesense. Perhaps you should promote this view to evangelicals who scare their children with hell, the lake of fire kind, from a very young age.

        3 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      5. End of conversation
      1. empathy4all‏ @emp4all 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @voxdotcom

        @paulbloomatyale If I understand @CoreyRobin's thesis, what the conservative model sells 2 its adherents is an authoritarian hierarchy which grants them a status 2 dominate those who've been declared as beneath them on the ladder. This, too, can motivate dehumanization & cruelty.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. Shawnito  🇺🇸‏ @PFShawns 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @voxdotcom

        Competition over resources and a lack of ability to share resources.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. Roxane‏ @brigadam 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @voxdotcom

        We are more like chimpanzees than bonobos

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. Nicholas Kadar‏ @N_kadar 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @voxdotcom

        The trick is to apply it in practice & the current political climate provides a marvelous laboratory. Cognitive scientists have been very silent on that front & it seems to me their science is trumped by their ideologies. Bloom speaks about White Supremacists; how about Antifa?

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. Emre YORGANCIGİL‏ @EmreYorgancigil 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @voxdotcom

        Not cruel, just human as Real

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. New conversation
      2. Zoe‏ @luckykittens 20 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @JoyceCarolOates @voxdotcom

        too bad humans didn't evolve from a different branch of the tree--a species that is more forgiving, peaceful, and earnest

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. SageThinker‏ @SageThinker99 21 Dec 2017
        Replying to @luckykittens @sapinker and

        We humans are quite an outlier within the primate family. I don't think we're very much bound by the qualities of our position on the tree as much as by our own specific evolution path.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      4. End of conversation
      1. Arnold Drummond  🏴  🌹 ☭‏ @WAYTAW 30 Dec 2017
        Replying to @sapinker @voxdotcom

        Why are humans spoken of as "we?" There are many different types of humans who do not all have the capacity for the same behavior, and thus cannot all be described or handled the same. Psychopaths, for example.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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