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Steven Pinker Quotes
I've never argued that humans are massively hot-wired. What I was trying to point out was that you can't understand how we learn unless you identify the learning mechanisms. And these have some genetic basis.
~ Steven Pinker
Argued
Basis
Genetic
How
Humans
Identify
Learn
Learning
Massively
Mechanisms
Never
Out
Point
Some
Trying
Understand
Unless
You
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Jews are known for many things, but strength, swiftness, and agility are not among them. There is one trait, as controversial as it is familiar, for which Jews are above all known, and that is shrewdness in business.
~ Steven Pinker
Above
Agility
Among
Business
Controversial
Familiar
Jews
Known
Many
Strength
Them
Things
Trait
Which
design
copy
Language is a window into human nature, but it is also a fistula, an open wound through which we're exposed to an infectious world.
~ Steven Pinker
Also
Exposed
Human
Human Nature
Infectious
Language
Nature
Open
Through
Which
Window
World
Wound
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Language mavens commonly confuse their own peeves with a worsening of the language.
~ Steven Pinker
Commonly
Confuse
Language
Own
design
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Language pedants hew to an oral tradition of shibboleths that have no basis in logic or style, that have been defied by great writers for centuries, and that have been disavowed by every thoughtful usage manual.
~ Steven Pinker
Basis
Been
Centuries
Every
Great
Language
Logic
Manual
Oral
Style
Thoughtful
Tradition
Usage
Writers
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Like the early days of the Internet, the dawn of personal genomics promises benefits and pitfalls that no one can foresee.
~ Steven Pinker
Benefits
Dawn
Days
Early
Early Days
Foresee
Internet
Like
No-One
Personal
Pitfalls
Promises
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Look at almost any passage, and you'll find that a paragraph has five or six metaphors in it. It's not that the speaker is trying to be poetic, it's just that that's the way language works.
~ Steven Pinker
Almost
Any
Find
Five
Just
Language
Look
Metaphors
Paragraph
Passage
Poetic
Six
Speaker
Trying
Way
Works
You
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M.I.T. has a reputation for turning out Dilberts. They may be brilliant in what they do, but no one can understand what they say.
~ Steven Pinker
Brilliant
May
No-One
Out
Reputation
Say
They Say
Turning
Understand
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Morality is not just any old topic in psychology but close to our conception of the meaning of life. Moral goodness is what gives each of us the sense that we are worthy human beings.
~ Steven Pinker
Any
Beings
Close
Conception
Each
Gives
Goodness
Human
Human Beings
Just
Life
Meaning
Meaning Of
Meaning Of Life
Moral
Morality
Old
Our
Psychology
Sense
Topic
Us
Worthy
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Most wars are not fought over shortages of resources such as food and water, but rather over conquest, revenge, and ideology.
~ Steven Pinker
Conquest
Food
Fought
Ideology
Most
Over
Rather
Resources
Revenge
Shortages
Wars
Water
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Mother Teresa was the very embodiment of saintliness: white-clad, sad-eyed, ascetic and often photographed with the wretched of the earth.
~ Steven Pinker
Earth
Embodiment
Mother
Mother Teresa
Often
Photographed
Very
Wretched
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My politics were pretty anarchistic until 1969 when the Montreal police went on strike. Within hours, mayhem and rioting broke out and the Mounties had to be called in to restore order. It instilled in me that one's convictions can be subjected to empirical test.
~ Steven Pinker
Broke
Convictions
Empirical
Had
Hours
Instilled
Mayhem
Me
Montreal
Order
Out
Police
Politics
Pretty
Restore
Strike
Subjected
Test
Until
Were
Within
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My worst boss was a departmental chair who never learned to appreciate new developments in the field. He had contempt for students and younger researchers, and he saw the job of running the department as a nuisance.
~ Steven Pinker
Appreciate
Boss
Chair
Contempt
Department
Developments
Field
Had
He
Job
Learned
Never
New
Nuisance
Researchers
Running
Saw
Students
Who
Worst
Younger
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No matter how inured you get to atrocities, you're still always stunned and shocked by how cruel and wasteful Homo sapiens can be.
~ Steven Pinker
Always
Atrocities
Cruel
Get
Homo
Homo Sapiens
How
Matter
Shocked
Still
Stunned
Wasteful
You
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No one knows what the nongenetic causes of individuality are. Perhaps people are shaped by modifications of genes that take place after conception, or by haphazard fluctuations in the chemical soup in the womb or the wiring up of the brain or the expression of the genes themselves.
~ Steven Pinker
After
Brain
Causes
Chemical
Conception
Expression
Genes
Individuality
Knows
No-One
People
Perhaps
Place
Shaped
Soup
Take
Themselves
Up
Womb
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Northeastern and most coastal states will vote for the candidate who is more closely aligned with international cooperation and engagement, secularism and science, gun control, individual freedom in culture and sexuality, and a greater role for the government in protecting the environment and ensuring economic equality.
~ Steven Pinker
Aligned
Candidate
Closely
Coastal
Control
Cooperation
Culture
Economic
Engagement
Ensuring
Environment
Equality
Freedom
Government
Greater
Gun
Gun Control
Individual
Individual Freedom
International
International Cooperation
More
Most
Protecting
Role
Science
Secularism
Sexuality
States
Vote
Who
Will
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Obviously no language is innate. Take any kid from any race, bring them up in any culture and they will learn the language equally quickly. So no particular language is in the genes. But what might be in the genes is the ability to acquire language.
~ Steven Pinker
Ability
Acquire
Any
Bring
Culture
Equally
Genes
Innate
Kid
Language
Learn
Might
Obviously
Particular
Quickly
Race
Take
Them
Up
Will
design
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Of course, genes can't pull the levers of our behavior directly. But they affect the wiring and workings of the brain, and the brain is the seat of our drives, temperaments and patterns of thought.
~ Steven Pinker
Affect
Behavior
Brain
Course
Directly
Drives
Genes
Our
Patterns
Pull
Seat
Thought
Workings
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One of my favourite kinds of movie is the American picaresque, in which the characters make their way across the country, learning about life against the gorgeous backdrops of that vast land.
~ Steven Pinker
About
Across
Against
American
Characters
Country
Favourite
Gorgeous
Kinds
Land
Learning
Life
Make
Movie
Vast
Way
Which
design
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One of the perks of being a psychologist is access to tools that allow you to carry out the injunction to know thyself.
~ Steven Pinker
Access
Allow
Being
Carry
Know
Know Thyself
Out
Perks
Psychologist
Thyself
Tools
You
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AuthorName
Steven Pinker
Profession
Scientist
BirthDate
18 September, 1954
Country
Canada
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