Here is a new hour-long interview with Steve Pinker by Heterodox Academy's first president, John Tomasi.
Here are YouTube's notes:
Are our higher education institutions still fostering true intellectual diversity? Today's guest is Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist at Harvard University. Today, we explore the growing concern within higher education that institutions are becoming echo chambers, suppressing dissent and censoring certain viewpoints.
In this thought-provoking episode, we discover the challenges to academic freedom in the era of cancel culture. We explore the costs of questioning consensus and how it can impact the pursuit of truth within academic institutions. We also shed light on Harvard University's Council on Academic Freedom, which was established to combat these challenges.
Join us as we dig into policies that protect free speech and the important role of civil debate in the academic community. We will navigate the complexities of the university together, grappling with the delicate balance between common knowledge and the suppression of dissent.
The audio isn't very good, but you should be able to hear what's being said.
For background, read Steve's book first. boston globe The editorial, “Steven Pinker's Five-Point Plan to Save Harvard from Itself,” is now available for free online (here's my take on it). It was published before Claudine Gay was fired as president, and Harvard will likely implement some of Pinker's proposals. These include adopting institutional neutrality and stripping him of his DEI authority.
There's a lot discussed here, so I won't summarize it in this video. If you have time, listen to it yourself. In general, the book deals with “cancel culture” and also covers Pinker's “Five Ways” and why he proposes a series of specific reforms.
h/t: Daniel
