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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 Mar 12

    Steven Pinker Retweeted

    A consequence of belief that children are blank slates... https://twitter.com/AmirSariaslan/status/973302134501531648 …

    Steven Pinker added,

    This Tweet is unavailable.
    8:56 PM - 12 Mar 2018
    • 391 Retweets
    • 1,493 Likes
    • Enovaze JS S Al Coates Jacqueline Chavira Silken Streams Caroline Leo Adrien Tannhof drchap
    42 replies 391 retweets 1,493 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Aidan Maslow, Ph.D.‏ @aidanmaslow Mar 12
        Replying to @sapinker

        This has nothing to do "blank slate" belief. You do love your straw men! Perhaps you can write another book using more straw men to lie to the public telling them that Evolutionary Psych. has not been largely invalidated by developmental neuroscience & constructivist research.

        2 replies 2 retweets 8 likes
      3. Gyeff‏ @Gyeff Mar 12
        Replying to @aidanmaslow @sapinker

        Elaborate.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      4. Aidan Maslow, Ph.D.‏ @aidanmaslow Mar 12
        Replying to @Gyeff @sapinker

        Research suggests that genetics plays essentially no role in shaping specific functional regions of neocortex. Essentially any region of the neocortex can assume any function. Specific functionality is a product of experience and self-organization of like types of information.

        2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
      5. Aidan Maslow, Ph.D.‏ @aidanmaslow Mar 12
        Replying to @aidanmaslow @Gyeff @sapinker

        (2) This suggests a general-purpose model of the brain, not the highly modular one argued for by Evo. Psych. Constructivist research supports this as it has shown that learning proceeds along a similar pattern of development regardless of the specific subject matter.

        1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
      6. Aidan Maslow, Ph.D.‏ @aidanmaslow Mar 12
        Replying to @aidanmaslow @Gyeff @sapinker

        (3) For example, learning language has similar pattern of development as learning math. Nothing special about how language develops. If Evo. Psych. was correct, we would expect to see a unique pattern of development in almost every subject matter.

        2 replies 1 retweet 4 likes
      7. Gyeff‏ @Gyeff Mar 12
        Replying to @aidanmaslow @sapinker

        (1) The similarities between math and science seems reasonable. At the level of abstraction, math and language is not that dissimilar. You equate the sensory appearance of an orange with the word "orange" instance. But, more specific mechanisms are localized in specific regions.

        2 replies 0 retweets 8 likes
      8. Gyeff‏ @Gyeff Mar 12
        Replying to @Gyeff @aidanmaslow @sapinker

        (2) For example memory consolidation functions are associated with hippocampus, interpretation of visual stimuli is associated with occipital lobe etc. The whole structure of the brain itself is written in our genes. So I don't see where the anti evolutionary psych rhetoric is

        3 replies 0 retweets 13 likes
      9. Gyeff‏ @Gyeff Mar 12
        Replying to @Gyeff @aidanmaslow @sapinker

        (3) coming from. The way I see it, evolution gave us the apparatus. There is some plasticity based on environment, but developmental environments tend to be fairly homogeneous. Genie, for instance, didn't develop language because nobody ever spoke around her as a child. Rare.

        0 replies 1 retweet 16 likes
      10. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Nate in Seattle‏ @n8r0n74 Mar 12
        Replying to @sapinker

        What a stupid strawman. Ignoring the fact that this was a joke, believing as a parent that you should give your child every opportunity to maximize potential does not require believing in blank slatism.

        1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes
      3.  🌹☭OneHipNinja☭ 🌹‏ @OneHipNinja Mar 13
        Replying to @n8r0n74 @sapinker

        I'll go ahead and assume Pinker believes children will achieve their full potential, whatever the circumstances, as long as they're kept alive. (Since we're all getting hay fever today.)

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      4. Nate in Seattle‏ @n8r0n74 Mar 13
        Replying to @OneHipNinja @sapinker

        Bingo. How difficult is it to acknowledge that innate qualities are modified by environmental influences? This so-called anti-blank-slatist crowd seems intent on amplifying the lunatic fringe on this issue.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      5. Nate in Seattle‏ @n8r0n74 Mar 13
        Replying to @n8r0n74 @OneHipNinja @sapinker

        It’s like my first week on Twitter, I was delighted that I found so many ppl debunking flat-earthers. Yay, science! [one week later] Christ, this is tiresome.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      6. End of conversation
      1. New conversation
      2. Joshua Loftus‏ @joftius Mar 13
        Replying to @sapinker

        hey Steve do you think maybe the difference between those two suggestions might explain something about declining infant mortality rates, or is that just due to the enlightenment. thanks

        1 reply 0 retweets 13 likes
      3. John Harmon‏ @millenialswhy Mar 14
        Replying to @joftius @sapinker

        How would any of those things reduce infantry mortality? Were infants dying because parents weren’t meeting their spiritual needs or had too much negative energy?

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. Joshua Loftus‏ @joftius Mar 14
        Replying to @millenialswhy @sapinker

        "physical, nutritional, and social needs [...] careful not to [...] improperly medicate [...] or neglect" or, you know, just being generally more interested in the child's welfare than the minimum amount required to "feed them sometimes"

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      5. John Harmon‏ @millenialswhy Mar 14
        Replying to @joftius @sapinker

        None of the stuff in that power point slide would reduce infant mortality. Also that a dumb strawman of what parents did before the shit in that slide. Again, point me to which things in that slide would reduce infant mortality.

        2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      6. Joshua Loftus‏ @joftius Mar 14
        Replying to @millenialswhy @sapinker

        PHYSICAL, NUTRITIONAL, AND SOCIAL NEEDS NOT IMPROPERLY MEDICATING OR NEGLECTING CAN YOU READ?

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      7. John Harmon‏ @millenialswhy Mar 14
        Replying to @joftius @sapinker

        This implies that none of this was an aspect of parenting before, which is again stupid, and again is a consequence of medical advances.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      8. End of conversation
      1. (((Susan Wilhite)))  💭‏ @Maggid Mar 12
        Replying to @sapinker

        Previous generations of parents did try to mold their offspring like Mississippi mud. Don't speak unless you're spoken to, and all. Then they fed them sometimes.

        0 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
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      1. michael sexton‏ @msextonNY Mar 12
        Replying to @sapinker

        How you say ... False dichotomy? Tiresome.

        0 replies 0 retweets 6 likes
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