Episode · People I (Mostly) Admire · 2025-09-27
Books mentioned on 167. The Secret of Humanity? It’s Common Knowledge.
Steven Pinker’s new book argues that all our relationships depend on shared assumptions and “recursive mentalizing” — our constant efforts to understand what other people are thinking. He and Steve talk about the psychology of eye contact, the particular value of Super Bowl ads, and what it’s like to get cancelled.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Enlightenment Now
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker is a sweeping nonfiction work that uses data and reason to argue that human health, prosperity, safety, peace, and happiness are globally on the rise.
Discussed“Five years ago, we talked a lot about his book entitled Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.”
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When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...
When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...
Discussed“So, you got a new book out and it's called When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows.”
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Own book Rationality
“In a more recent book, Rationality, I tried to figure out what would seem to be obvious, namely that rationality is a good thing and science is a good thing.”
Own book The Stuff of Thought
“I came to it from psychology in particular the psychology of language in a book that I wrote 15 years ago the stuff of thought language is a window into human nature”
Own book Superfreakonomics
“I'm just reflecting on the most prominent attempt to cancel me which happened after Steven Dubin and I published super freconomics and we had a discussion of geoengineering.”
“Steven Pinker's latest book is called When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life.”