Steven Pinker - The Stuff of Thought: Language as a window into human nature

[Dansvidania]

faster and faster and faster and faster and faster

[mrkeys1111]

People, places, things...they are, they have been and they will be. Steven fascinates on the actions that change and transform them. The verbs and the changers of our reality. He looks at our actions to how we perceive them, how we correlate them and how we predicate on them. Pure genius.

[mrcwalk]

I can't believe how many negative comments this video has received.

Have you any idea how long it takes to achieve the acknowledged basics as a certified psychologist?

this man has gone on to specialise in language, which even when he reveals something very simple, there has been years of science gone into that revelation.

maybe the content of this speech contains material found in other lectures by him, but have you heard in speak on blood lust in religion etc? fucking mind-blowing!

[makethelaughs]

Thumbs up if you cant help but laugh when the guy with weird laugh, laughs!

[jamfraley]

@BrianLeexx he makes independent arguments about the nature of profanity, grammar and inuendo that have interesting conclusions. When he feels he's succeeded there, he goes on to suggest that language is a window into human nature, but I don't think it's terribly as vague as usual when he gives us a strong evidential context. Namely, it's a window, and these are some specific examples of what you see.

[ImBatmanUrNot]

lmao the guys laugh in the crowd is too FUCKING funny XD

[BrianLeexx]

I don't discredit the man, but after watching this lecture fully twice, I still fail to comprehend the arguments he makes. Could anyone explain what message Mr. Pinker is trying to convey besides the obscure "language is a window into human nature"?

[rockos414]

The man is a comedic genius. I doubt people have ever laughed so hard during a seminar.

[x1plus1x]

my fav part is 0:29:04

[BadMannerKorea]

That guy cackling is fucking hilarious.

[theRSAorg]

From Cognitive Media's website - our external animation partners :)

[cosy18]

where i can download the presentation ?

[Jalenxx]

HYUK HYUK HYUK! HYUK HYUK HYUK! HYUK HYUK HYUK! HYUK HYUK HYUK!

[hillarymary]

@Jalenxx lol.

[wilmerboreito]

ChiefDen4, If you check on RSA Animate version of this video, you'll see the donkey-like laugh has been drawn as a laughing hyena. Hilarious!

[ChiefDen4]

Oh my god, that man who was barking like a donkey almost ruined the video! -_-

[pawsoned]

Mr Pinker is just another modern day sophist and his pseudo-explanations are a whole lot of hooey that befuddle other people by constructing false data and presenting them as a scientific fact that is seemingly irrefutable. Who is he really? Not a philosopher or a scientist but only a linguistic maven who uses rhetorical gimmicks to dismiss ideas that he does not like.

[thermos26]

@pawsoned Actually, he IS a scientist. He's an experimental psychologist, not a linguist.

[pawsoned]

@thermos26 Why do you think so? Just because he is a professor and argues in an opaque way? Tell me what prominent experiments has he ever done, apart from variations on the Chomskyan 'wug' tests?

[thermos26]

@pawsoned I think that he is a psychologist because he has a Ph.D. in Psychology, and is a professor of Psychology, not Linguistics. It's rather simple. I was not commenting on the quality of his research.

[pawsoned]

@thermos26 Thank you for explaining this because after reading "The language Instinct" "The Blank Slate" "Words and Rules" "Who the Mind Works" and now "The Stuff of Thought" it is not clear what his research really consists of, notwithstanding persistent and pointless semantic hairsplitting. Sorry, but there was no relevant data pertaining to experimental psychology that was his.

[thermos26]

@pawsoned Well, if you had simply said that he was discussing research that was not his own, I would not have had a problem with your original comment.

[SideofClouds]

Hitler disliked this.

[DoubleTuna]

I love RSA, It's just like TAD, but good.

[pawsoned]

I think that his speech lacks substantial insight. He may be a scientist, but his lecture, however funny and entertaining leaves a bit to be desired. I mean what does it teach apart from quoting a few amusing examples?

[MoncefGridda]

I wonder if I need to have as many gray hairs as he does to hold a lecture as revealing (about human nature).

[mziad84]

How many gray hairs do I need to have to watch the whole lecture.

[LookingForTheArbiter]

@sentientsapien Yes, I do.

You know the term "embedded journalist"? "Government scientists" are even more thoroughly and consequently embedded, in my opinion. Not so much by constraint but by education and "conditions of career" etc.

Recently, I even came to the conclusion that there are no journalists at all and that the most books written are actually books of fairytales.

Pinker doesn't care because he's more or less a recipient of orders. Just another opportunist and controlled desk criminal.

[elchafa]

@LookingForTheArbiter Youneed to get your head checked, this talk is brilliant

[ScaleBerb]

I agree with him, for the most part. But the way he says the 'k' sound through his nose just makes me want to throttle him.

[mbenet]

Fucking Brilliant! - [ok ... watch the video]

[LookingForTheArbiter]

He's a government scientist, you know, Grace and Martin, he doesn't care at all, just doing a job. And his lecture can't fascinate someone who have listened to only one of Terence McKenna's, I think.

[martinpribble]

This is one of the most interesting talks on language I think I've ever seen. I can't believe so few of you have watched it. It really is a testament to the dumbing down of society, that people don't seek real knowledge, but instead a quick fix of entertainment. No wonder we're all doomed.

[graceoverall]

Wow... only 408 views and no comments? What's wrong with people, lol. This was such an interesting talk. Language truly is an incredibly fascinating thing.