Steven Pinker Audio & Video

Our conceptions of human nature affect every aspect of our lives, from the way we raise our children to the political movements we embrace.

Steven Pinker's book The Blank Slate argues that all humans are born with some innate traits. Here, Pinker talks about his thesis, and why some people found it incredibly upsetting.

Nancy Kranich says the debate boils down to this: “Is information a public good or a commodity?” The more profit to be made, the higher the tension.

Arguments and legal confrontations over the control of music, writing and visual materials have become a permanent feature of contemporary life and will almost certainly enlarge and intensify in future years.

In this delightful, acclaimed bestseller, one of the world's leading cognitive scientists tackles the workings of the human mind.

Reports of the demise of the humanities are exaggerated, suggest these panelists, but there may be reason to fear its loss of relevance. Three scholars whose work touches a variety of disciplines and with wide knowledge of the worlds of academia and publishing ponder the meaning and mission of the humanities in the digital age.

Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker talked about his life and career.

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, philosopher and author of the new novel 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, discusses mind-body problems with her husband, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker.

Steven Pinker is Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University.

Steven Pinker charts the decline of violence from Biblical times to the present, and argues that, though it may seem illogical and even obscene, given Iraq and Darfur, we are living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence.