Authors — Quotes

Steven Pinker Quotes: 9

There's a misconception that survival of the fittest means survival of the most aggressive. The adjective 'Darwinian' used to refer to ruthless competition; you used to read that in business journals. But that's not what Darwinian means to a biologist; it's whatever leads to reproductive success.
I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile gift.
The rules of friendship are tacit, unconscious; they are not rational. In business, though, you have to think rationally.
Many artists and scholars have pointed out that ultimately art depends on human nature.
It's natural to think that living things must be the handiwork of a designer. But it was also natural to think that the sun went around the earth. Overcoming naive impressions to figure out how things really work is one of humanity's highest callings.[Can You Believe in God and Evolution? Time Magazine, August 7, 2005]
The supposedly immaterial soul, we now know, can be bisected with a knife, altered by chemicals, started or stopped by electricity, and extinguished by a sharp blow or by insufficient oxygen.
How the Mind Works
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to compute it.
Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language
the mind is a neural computer
How the Mind Works
We will never have a perfect world, but it’s not romantic or naïve to work toward a better one.