pinker quote I like

[xatalantax]

Q: Aren't we all better off if people believe that we are not constrained by our biology and so can achieve any future we choose?

A: People are surely better off with the truth. Oddly enough, everyone agrees with this when it comes to the arts. Sophisticated people sneer at feel-good comedies and saccharine romances in which everyone lives happily ever after. But when it comes to science, these same people say, "Give us schmaltz!" They expect the science of human beings to be a source of emotional uplift and inspirational sermonizing.

Comments

[spriggan.livejournal.com]

So what, it really is true that chicks aren't good scientists?

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

heh
he's getting attacked for all sorts of stuff he did not actually say.

[spriggan.livejournal.com]

I bet he totally hated Gigli.

[cyclotron.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Considering how we tend to average up or down the impact of information we are given, and how exponetially people seem to drop into depression, I think an optimistic-truth should be told.

Ex You are not a good artist today, but if you practice you will become better.

Ex Genetically, statistics show you'll get heart disease, but if you take care of yourself now, you could beat the statistics...

I guess it boils down to statistics and probability. We all want the easy answers and we tend to take statistics and probabilities as fact rather than testing them. We settle for the probable over the possible. That seems to lead to depression, negative stress, and "aiming low." Or in otherwords, a pessimistic-truth.

When I look around - my peers and the media - I hear too much pessimistic-truth. It's probably why I enjoy science fiction, which tends to be overtly optimistic.

[cyclotron.livejournal.com]

I is college educated! ...Oh boy, I have misplaced modifiers, wrong tenses, and missing commas in that post!

[mittenstein.livejournal.com]

I've always loved that man, despite his crappy collage theory of god knows what in "How the mind works."

[damiel.livejournal.com]

I kneel before Pinker!!!!

Praise be to Pinker!!!

maybe schmaltzy in life, but not on the silver screen

[damiella.livejournal.com]

It's ironic he says that, considering that science in movies is usually portrayed in a villainous way. Movies show technology going horribly wrong, diseases spreading through the population, or natural disasters putting humans at risk. Scientists themselves are often shown to be as cold and unfeeling as they are academic. Which is hardly schmaltzy.