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GEM 2012: Steven Pinker on Emotion, Reason and Moral Progress



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At the 2012 Global Empowerment Meeting, Steven Pinker, Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, spoke on Emotion, Reason, & Moral Progress as part of the session on using neuroscience, psychology and economics to solve development challenges.

For more information on GEM 2012, visit http://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/news-events/recent-conferences/gem

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21 thoughts on “GEM 2012: Steven Pinker on Emotion, Reason and Moral Progress
  1. The proliferation of technology and global media is my pick. Since violence = high ratings, news and entertainment production companies keep increasing the volume, realism and salaciousness of violence and justify it by including a morality lesson. The public in turn has their blood lust needs met vicariously while being continually indoctrinated with morality. Concurrently, technology is eroding violence justification against groups that are "other" as humanity rushes toward globalization.

  2. In the same way a few incompetent politicians run the world, it was the same incompetents, centuries ago, that thought "Hey: that guy over there can't defend himself, AND he's different, and therefore less important, than me: I think I'll make him my slave." And it's this type of person others are afraid to stand up to, and those like them use to justify THEIR slave ownership. That behavior then snowballs into the norm.

  3. Although Pinker is great as usual, I wish he spent a bit of time clarifying how he was using "morality". He couldn't be referring (only?) to codes of conduct for governing behavior because this would be too great of an overlap with how he was using "reason".

  4. I think that when his claim that zero wars have happened since 1946 is very misleading. I understand he means between countries that are great powers but it does come across as dismissive to such conflicts as: the Congo, Israel/Palestine, and several other conflicts between countries that don't have such obviously imperial identities.

  5. When we feel pushed, because of communism, or, whatever it may be, in a wrong way, the best defense is to try and achieve and be as good as you can. As good, I mean, almost holy, like divine, I mean, pray for the good of life, I mean, write poetry on how good it is to be an American. Go all out good.

  6. Less violence – he's got to be joking. Nuclear attacks on Japan, suppressed truths on revenge against German civilians post WW2,, Viet Nam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Gaza. etc. Hiding the truth of ongoing and past barbarism by propaganda to justifiy long term mass incarceration of innocents blended with superficial crap that it defends the nation from" terrorism." shows the psychopathic elite know a better informed public realise what really goes on and mayl soon turn on them .

  7. A move from emotional response to applying reason and considering principles and conscience enhancing empathy would be fine if it were true. Sounds more to me like the perpetrators of cruelty and violence are starting to tone down
    arrogant indifference to protect themselves from a back lash. What has happened to
    lessen cruelty is not to do with any evidential increased empathy arousal. Even if true then it is amply counteracted by the apathy induced by brainwashing.
    counteracted

  8. He didn't mention it because it doesn't have any relevance to the discussion at hand. However, I do love it when Conservatives point out how liberal the Republican party was back in Lincolns day 🙂 Cheers

  9. There is more statistics to consider before you can claim such thing. For example there is more white than black people in America 6.15 for 1. There is simply more potential white victims. Also poverty augments the rate of crimes and the percentage of poverty for black people is twice the percentage of poverty for white people. Please, for the sake of humanity, think more before you talk.

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