Steven Pinker on language as a window into human nature
In this video from RSAnimate, psychologist, cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker (PopTech 2007) explains how the mind turns the finite building blocks of language into infinite meanings.
Amidst the current tumult in the Middle East, his thoughts on facilitating political revolutions are particularly relevant.
Why are political revolutions often triggered when a crowd gathers in a public square to challenge the president in his palace? It’s because when people were at home, everyone knew they loathed the dictator but no one knew that other people knew that they knew. Once you assemble in a place where everyone can see everyone else, everyone knows that everyone else knows that everyone else knows that the dictator is loathed and that gives them the collective power to challenge the authority of the dictator who otherwise could pick off dissenters one at a time.
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