Babies, Brains, Nature and Nurture -- An Interview with Dr Stuart Shanker - Freedomain Radio

[Jessicajules]

Dr. Shanker is amazing. I was lucky enough to take his Child Development class during my undergrad (BA Psych). Thanks for this interview, Stef. Really enjoyed it!

[americaninkorea]

This series is just incredible. 29:30 --> music and gymnastic, just what Plato tells us in the Republic for the cultivation of the young.

[BandWagon1987]

I went until 32:30. This question is nonsense, and moderately infuriating.

[justeddynolasco]

my god i never knew what i wanted to study at school but know i do rofl

[watchingcharlotte]

Great job on the video

[mussimike]

Fascinating interview Stefan, I can not imagine a more important subject for us to be engaged with. Thank you.

[frostyuk2007]

10.50 Dr Shanker talks about making predictions of how well a student will perform and that severe changes are rare. However in recent years it has also been discovered that this often depends on language. For example, if whenever your parents communicate with you they use phrases like, "Do you SEE what I mean" this teaches the child to communicate in visual predicates. However if the childs teacher speaks using auditory predicates communication between the two can be seriously hindered.

[Neilgs]

@frostyuk2007 You are missing I am afraid a LARGER Perspective. All language/communication is dependent upon the external symbolic metaphor but the underlying non-verbal or affective quality of caregiver/child or child/teacher child/child reciprocal interactions/engagement. Without that you essentially have metaphor = raw data or referential communication/ signifiers without the possibilities of deeper reflection which in turn lends itself to more empathic forms of thinking-and-communicating.

[melissacarl2002]

Please tell us more about our brains. We need to know this stuff. THANKYOU for helping us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[undueinfluence]

A very interesting interview - - what brings Mr. Molyneux to be interested in this subject? Is it perhaps related to trying to understand his own development via his childhood, etc?

[nmazurs]

Somewhat naive conclusion

[Jcolinsol]

Hhm, I definitely formed an aversion to competition and other forms of social interaction as a child. My father always felt that I was hyper-sensitive.

I wonder, what solutions there are to these handicaps. My inability to absorb technical information is a great flaw in my personality, and I'd love to address such problems.

[EsotericThrone]

Stef, I really like these interviews. They're a great idea and point your viewers to people they may otherwise not have read or learned from.

[OldWhig1688]

I was quite fond of the rambling, actually, but this is a wonderful video.

[OscarBaldwin]

you have become much better at presentation since your old videos. I started at the beginning and just skipped to see this vid. Less rambling.

[stefbot]

Thanks, I appreciate your comment! :)

[SopraTutt1]

this is some f****** scary shit! I started to look into child education and it seems so hard to do everything right... that I'm getting afraid to have kids now :-)

Great work Stefan! Keep it up!

[deepfriedsammich]

I think it would be interesting to see a follow-up on this interview where we hear what Stephan thinks about some of Shanker's apparent "social engineering agenda."

[ForOrAgainstUs]

I think it would be interesting to see if Shanker follows up on listening to some of Stef's podcasts like he said he wanted to at the end of the interview. :-)

[deepfriedsammich]

I was a bit put off by Shanker's apparent collectivist Spartan ideology. It seems as if he actually believes that a state bureaucrat will provide more quality interactions than a mother would.

His stated objectives seem to be the result of outrageously erroneous conclusions stacked on top of perfectly valid premises.

[LaLeLaLeLa]

@deepfriedsammich -Dr. Shankar definitely doesn't believe that, there's a whole theory that he supports based on mother-child interactions called Dyadic Interactions

in which the primary caregiver becomes an external brain for the baby. Clearly that is not what he meant if you take a closer look at all the details of the evolution of nurturing. I understand that might sound like a tangent but as a whole I'm pretty sure that is not what he believes.. he has lectured the contrary on many occasions

[SolitudeMyGuide]

Your forehead is so shiny in this video - you're practically glowing! Also, fascinating, fascinating, fascinating subject!

[TehGhoul]

That was possibly the most interesting video on youtube I have even seen.

[candburd]

at 9.32 this vid is pausing and i cant unpause it. Anyone know whats going on?

[FUZZYisBIG]

I thought I recognised this guy! Is this the son of Albert Shanker? The guy who debated Friedman over education?

Look up 'Milton Friedman education' and watch the end of part 3 and beginning of part 4. The resembelence is uncanny.

[DecassyJake]

Brilliant, just brilliant. Freedomain IS the brains trust of the web!. :-)

[tpsisokayiguess]

I just hope these ideas won't encourage too much utopian state intervention. :/

[kimxxxyyy]

This is not unlike the way Ancient Greece and Rome schooling,**** Brilliant!

how else could geniuses such as Plato Pythagoras exc exc ever been noticed ie acknowledge, appreciated!

[summergiles]

Notice how this guy is pushing getting kids into school earlier. This obviously smells of a social agenda. Is anyone else picking up on this?

[1mealperday]

reviewing this past life and how i have been treated from childhood on i should be stupid and irrational. This person complicates way too much. I am not willing to be mental so long to listen to him. His vibratory rate and mine clash. Gone , nuff said

PS hey , gimme love and i will listen

( meaning to speak from heart ,rather than head)

[PressForFreedom]

Very interesting, thank you.

[IchigoMurasaki]

These guys are speaking the truth. I was reading at a 4th grade level when I was four simply from exposure to plenty of books (thanks to my mom). Nurture is more important than a lot of scientists give credit.

[hughtub]

@IchigoMurasaki That shows the extent of how low the standards are set b/c schools don't cater to children with high natural abilities. I could have skipped a grade in school, but figured the kids would just be 1 year older, and the slightly better education wouldn't be worth the drastic change.

[TruthSurge]

By this guy's explanation, a baby w/o someone raising it would never be able to do any of the higher functions like laughing on its own or whatever. So, isn't that debunked by experience? Don't we have tons of babies that were never given a mommy's face hovering over it for 9 months? Just asking.

[Stargazer5781]

They still have exposure to humans. In the rare event children have been abandoned in the woods and survived, absence of contact with humans cost them all of their higher reasoning. They behaved like the animals with which they interacted most.

[TruthSurge]

Without proper input, the kid would be stunted but is it due to some physical changing in brain structure during the first year or simply a lack of input that would get them to think and behave at a higher level. I agree that younger people can learn easier but just wondering about this mom forming the kid's physical brain or whatever. What if you raised him in a bare room but had a robot do it? Would he start mimicing the robot? Jerky movements and gravely voice? hhahha

[ForOrAgainstUs]

Let us know what he thinks of your podcasts, and tell us what you sent him, please! I'm dying to know what you think would be a good read or listen for him. It seems as though he wasn't aware of your stances, just your interest. I'm eager to hear of any follow-ups you may have with him.

[bunabayashi]

Truly one of the best interviews & conversations I have ever seen, thank you!

[ronpaulspanish]

Excellent! Thanks for posting this video

[Deathinmusic]

Wonderful interview! I couldn't love this more.

[fergus247]

This repeatedly made me think of my dads homevideos where he would videotape me as an infant raiding the various cabinets in the kitchen.

Instead of saying no, and keeping me away, i can imagine adults will do this in order to not have the mess to clean up afterwards - he just let me go, because thats what i wanted. And i think these kinds of situations where you of course watch out and make sure the baby does not injure itself are tremendously helpful in brain development.

[nathanjonessr]

This is really good stuff. It makes me think of several things, my first daughter is the really easy one to nurture and such, and now she is in kindergarten being very successful. I can see many of these things working their way out in her growth. My 3 year old son and 1 year old son, not so easy, but still they are still at the very developmental side of this process. I think in this discussion there are some solutions to some of the difficulties we have w/ them.

thanks for the post.

[megous]

Amazing and highly informative. Thank you!

[MaikUniversum]

Brilliant discussion :)

[erdal0]

excellent  and very interesting