Steven Pinker 3of3: Reverse engineering romance and revenge

Steven Pinker on the computational theory of mind and evolutionary psychology. Our mental faculties assume a world like that of our ancestors. Pinker describes some of the tricks our minds do, which helped us in the natural world, but can lead to maladaptive behaviour in the modern world.

From a conference in 1998 called Der Digitale Planet (The Digital Planet, I guess), which also included Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Jared Diamond and Douglas Adams. Links follow:

Douglas Adams: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msAF_MDYWNE

Richard Dawkins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdBOb9tQjNU

Daniel Dennett: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psBwnE0ByUw

Jared Diamond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV_P1VGqMBo


Found here (at the bottom):
http://www.reitstoen.com/dennett.php

Direct link to video (real media):
http://www.web-for-vision.com:8080/ramgen/SPIEGEL/Wfv_Isdn.smil

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• mind
• thought
• evolution
• evolutionary
• psychology
• romance
• revenge

[ivanisavich]

Pinker is fantastic...thanks for uploading this!

[johntkucz]

this guy's awesome. ridiucling love. awesome. this is illuminating.

[MrJonkelp]

love the video really good

[ericajjful]

love the video really good

[PktMma]

I think I'd turn gay for Steven Pinker. He's so sexy!

[alohaoliwa]

Totally inspired~

[JavierBonillaC]

Let's asume that I am a person with an illness (quite self-destructive) that makes it so that if I don't deliver on a threat I will have a heart attack. If others know that I have such condition they will take my threats more seriously, increasing my chances of not being "duped" and of survival and reproduction. Interestingly that illness would turn out to be more productive than destructive; it would become "selected for" in evolution. Well, that is what vengeance, jealousy or loyalty are.

[theinquisitor]

@Alllex1703 yeah and people say astrology helps them too. Anecdotal evidence is meaningless. Also I just don't like the idea of manipulating people with psychological tricks. Why can't you just be honest with people and treat them like people, not a fucking science experiment?

[Alllex1703]

@theinquisitor ehm... Look bro, all this does is help you see, analyze and send signals to other people. It's psychology and reverse psychology. They take the subject of relationships and make it into a science. All I can say is it's as logical and simple as 1+1=2 once you get the drift.. I'm no writer, neither do I sell such books, there's even torrents and sites where you can get them for free illegally :P All I know is they've really helped me and another two troubled friends I gave em too.

[theinquisitor]

@eangelos89 sounds like more self-help mumbo jumbo to me. Any evidence that it works that goes beyond anecdotal testimony?

[eangelos89]

@theinquisitor Trust me, venusian arts are way more than picking up women or being a 'playa', in other words a person who has trust issues, hence he's afraid of commitment. It's about improving your self-worth, your persona and your social life :) And I didn't get upset, friend. I just gave you a full answer.

[theinquisitor]

@eangelos89 take it easy mate. Random people on the internet aren't worth getting upset about. If you don't like being called an arsehole then you'd best not talk to people online. I just thought your "venusian arts" stuff was probably a load of nonsense and you're just attributing good luck or some other factor to that. Anyway, yeah I was probably out of line. I apologise with all the seriousness with which I made my initial comment. Don't take the internet so seriously, you'll get a hernia.