Speaker
,Author
Steven Pinker
Leading public intellectual
Steven Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and one of the most prominent public intellectuals of our time. He has been named as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World Today.” Pinker is the author of Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters and Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.

Steven Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and one of the most prominent public intellectuals of our time. He has been named as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World Today.” Pinker is the author of Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters and Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.
Steven Pinker Videos

The Fires of Progress
Steven Pinker debates violence, ideas and progress

The enlightenment and its alternatives
Which ideals are the best guide to human betterment?

Reason and The Decline of Violence
Steven Pinker's Theory Explored

Living dangerously
Risk, rationality and coronavirus

Why Things Get Better
Steven Pinker on the world's bright future.
Steven Pinker Articles
More Videos

The Shame Game
Why do we fear shame?

The Fires of Progress
Steven Pinker debates violence, ideas and progress

Rory Stewart in Conversation with Emma Barnett
Former Conservative speaks out on abuses of power

Reason and The Decline of Violence
Steven Pinker's Theory Explored

The Wealth Delusion
Would more equality lead to greater happiness?

The Gathering Storm
Russia, China and the New World Order

Why Things Get Better
Steven Pinker on the world's bright future.

Monarchy, Caste and Inheritance
Must an equal world abolish all family privilege?

Free Thought
Are universities threatening free speech?

Rethinking Capital
Are there alternative economic systems?

The Crisis of the West
Is the Age of the West at an end?

The Morality of War
Should wealthy countries intervene in wars around the world?

How to Change the World
Brian Eno and James Thornton on living a good life

The Great Economists
How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today | Linda Yueh

Radical Spirituality
Can spiritual activism save the planet?

The End of the West
Should we worry about the fall of Western power?

The New Politics
Is the market the most important thing?

Avoiding Apocalypse
Is a nuclear crisis inevitable?

Guns and Butter
Hard and Soft power

Beyond Borders
Removing vs Strengthening Borders

War and Peace
Has Trump made the world more dangerous?

Rich and Equal
Can a society be equal and prosperous?

What should we do about poverty?
Big Issue Founder John Bird's Political Manifesto

Can Facebook Save Itself?
Internet giants between the market and government regulation

The Struggle for Social Justice
Can we make rich countries fairer? | Angela Eagle

Out of Control
How dangerous are the tech giants?

Generation Rent: Sharing the Future
Is our obsession with owning property outdated?

The New Mafia
Is it too late to regulate tech giants?

Authority, Liberty and Wealth
Is 'The China Model' better than democracy?

After The Crisis
Mapping the road to recovery

The Infinite Boom
Is it wrong for state budgets to focus on growth?

Capitalism, Poverty and Progress
Deirdre McCloskey | Free markets empower the poor

Eating to Save the Planet
Is it time to rethink our relationship with food?

Gandhi vs Guevara
Is violence ever a justifiable political strategy?

The Tears of the Europeans
Is the US in dangerous decline?

Beware Bankers Bearing Gifts
Do we need debt?

On Imperialism
George Galloway strikes a blow against imperialism

After Capitalism
Is it the only viable economic system or can we imagine a post-capitalist world?

Are Islam and Westernism Compatible?
Resisting vs Embracing Islam in the West

Decolonising Britain
Creating post-colonial identity | Myriam Francois

Securing Our Future
Anders Sandberg | How to avoid global disasters

Diversity and Power
Is radical thinking enough to change society?

The Fantasy of Money
Are there alternatives to currency?

War and Peace
The politics of conflict

The Global Aristocracy
Should there be a limit to the power of the global elite?

The End of Ideals?
Do we need grand political visions?

Towards A New Humanity

Immigration and Identity
Britain, Brexit, and borders

Money For Nothing
Guy Standing vs Deirdre McCloskey on Universal Basic Income

Corporation vs. Nation
Should states aim to contain corporate power?
More Articles

Me, myself and others

Knowing what to believe
Free will: an impossible reality

What physicists get wrong about consciousness

The brain doesn't create consciousness

Are you responsible for your unconscious self?

The Dangers of Musk’s Neuralink

Moral responsibility without free will

Consciousness is the collapse of the wave function

Free will or no free will, punishment is justified

The impotence of reason

Schrödinger and the conscious universe

Why panpsychism is baloney

Imagination, consciousness and animal dreams

The free will debate has real-world consequences

Denis Noble: Free will is not an illusion

Consciousness may not require a brain

Big tech doesn’t want AI to become conscious

Future AI in the therapist's chair

When are intuitions a good guide to reality?

Nietzsche: ignorance sets us free

Why Steven Pinker is wrong about rationality

Consciousness begins with feeling, not thinking

The absurdity of mind as machine

Is rationality a fiction?

Brain noise doesn't explain consciousness

David Nutt: entropy explains consciousness

Bias doesn't always undermine truth

Brain vs Heart: a false dichotomy

Free will is an invention