MeaningofLife.tv
00:06:01 Why humans are becoming less violent
00:20:17 The dark side of our moral sense
00:36:42 Just how deluded are we?
00:47:31 Bob tries to get Steve to say something nice about religion
00:55:58 How science gives Steve’s life meaning
01:08:08 The problem with “evil”
Watch this conversation on MeaningofLife.tv http://meaningoflife.tv/videos/32915
Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero) and Steven Pinker (Harvard University, The Better Angels of Our Nature)
Recorded on 10/28/2015
Source
Analytical acuity, clarity of content, cogency of expression. I like that measurement
37:32 they’re talking about different types of delusion, where wright talks about experiential delusion and pinker talks about intellectual delusion. The delusion of a thinker of thoughts isn’t the same kind of delusion as believing that 2+2=5
It’s difficult but possible to consider Steven Pinker as highly deluded in the Buddhist sense (but certainly not the rational sense) every time he is lost in thought and treats it as reality, like all of us who are untrained in mindfulness
38:40 Buddhist Pinker 😛
Violence has not been reduced over time. It has simply shifted from individuals to governments. There are more people in prison around the world today than at any other time in human history. They got there through government violence. I would admit that lethal violence has been reduced over time.
abstractly on point, somewhat geopolitically naïve…