The Problem With Trying To Be Rational - Steven Pinker | Modern Wisdom Podcast 424

Steven Pinker is a Cognitive Psychologist at Harvard University, a psycholinguist and a Best Selling Author.

It would be nice to always make the right decision. To escape the prison of human emotions and biases and operate from a purely rational place. Steven's new book breaks down rationality into its components in an attempt to understand just what we're all missing from our mental makeup.

Expect to learn why betting websites are the most accurate forecasters of the future, why learning lists of cognitive biases won't always make you more effective, whether smart people are more or less rational on average, whether politics makes you dumber, how to balance rationality with a desire to be intuitive and present and much more...

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00:00 Intro
00:26 Is Studying Cognitive Biases Beneficial?
09:42 Applying Bayesian Reasoning in Life
22:20 Tensions between Rationality & Intuition
32:20 How Conspiracies Subvert Rationality
41:52 Conclusion

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