Think with Pinker

Feb 03 2022 13 ep. 4.7k
Think with Pinker Podcast artwork

Professor Steven Pinker has spent his life thinking about thinking. Now he wants us to join him. For this series Professor Pinker has created a critical thinking toolkit which he hopes will help all of us make better decisions about - well, everything. Steven will be joined by some big thinkers, and people who have to deal with the consequences of irrationality, as he sets out to steer us away from common fallacies and logical traps set by our own animal brains. Think with Pinker is produced in partnership with The Open University.

  Health & Fitness  Science
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Being right

Feb 03 2022 29 mins  
Why getting it right might mean admitting you're wrong. What if we were to replace intellectual combat with genuine discussion and treat beliefs as hypotheses to be tested rather than treasures to be defended? In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker is joined by: Julia Galef of the Center for Applied Rationality and author of ‘The Scout Mindset’Daniel Willingha

Headlines and trendlines

Jan 27 2022 28 mins  
The media fills our minds with vivid images of rare events from plane crashes to terrorist attacks. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores how we can stop the news from distorting our understanding of the world. He’s joined by: James Harding a former editor of The Times and director of BBC News, and now the co-founder of Tortoise Media.Anna Rosling Rutl

Sentence first, verdict afterwards

Jan 20 2022 28 mins  
Decision making in the courtroom: In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores the life and death choices made by judges and juries.To help him sift signals from noise, he’s joined by: Judge Nancy Gertner: former United States district judge and now professor of law at Harvard UniversityElizabeth Loftus; professor at the University of California and one of th

Nudges and noise

Jan 13 2022 28 mins  
The way we think makes us vulnerable to bad decision making, but in his guide to thinking better, Steven Pinker explores how we can exploit our cognitive biases to make better choices. Professor Pinker is joined by:Daniel Kahneman, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, Nobel Prize in Economics winner and author of “Thinking Fast and Slow” and “Noise A Flaw in Human Judg

Rational soothsaying

Jan 06 2022 29 mins  
Making predictions can be hard, especially about the future. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores the cognitive flaws that hobble us as forecasters.He’s joined by Barbara Mellers, the George I. Heyman University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of the Good Judgement project, and by Thomas Friedman, foreign affairs columnist f

The Climate Game

Dec 30 2021 28 mins  
How flaws in the way we think make it harder to tackle climate change. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker examines how global warming is also a problem in the psychology of judgement and decision making.To search for solutions, he’s joined by Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and author of ‘How to Avoid a Climate

Future you

Dec 23 2021 29 mins  
Should we eat, drink and be merry or make sacrifices now to benefit our future selves? In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores what's called 'future discounting' in decision making.He's joined by...Dr Maria Kournikova, psychologist, poker champion and author of ‘The Biggest Bluff; How I learned to pay attention, master myself and win’ and Bina Venkatar

You Can’t Think That!

Dec 16 2021 28 mins  
Are some thoughts too evil to think? Sometimes we avoid seemingly rational lines of reasoning, not because of logic, innumeracy or ignorance, but for morality. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores the trade-offs between taboos and our ability to reason clearly. Steven’s joined by Philip Tetlock, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, author of �

Don’t expect a zebra

Dec 09 2021 28 mins  
Why medical students are advised - if you hear hoofbeats behind you, don't expect to see a zebra. In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker explores Bayesian reasoning.Steven is joined by Talithia Williams, professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and author of ‘Power in Numbers The Rebel Women of Mathematics’, and by Siddartha Mukherjee, professor of medi

In touch with reality

Dec 02 2021 28 mins  
Why do so many of us believe in quackery and conspiracy? In his guide to thinking better, Professor Steven Pinker tries to make sense of the senseless.Steven is joined by Jonathan Rauch, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the author, most recently, of ‘The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of the Truth’ and by Ellen Cushing, Senior and Special Projects Editor at