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Steven Pinker

đŸ‘€ Speaker
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689 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

In the absence of a public event, the next best thing is conspicuous salience, or a focal point. Schelling suggests that our couple might gravitate toward the big clock in Grand Central Station, even if it wasn't particularly close to the point at which they'd been separated, simply because each might anticipate that it would pop into the mind of the other.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

A third solution is a convention. A tacit agreement to do something in a certain way for no other reason than they have agreed to do it that way, which is reason enough. Our separated couple might agree that should they ever be separated in the future, they will adopt the convention of chivalry and go to the bookstore. Or patriarchy and go to the camera store.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

or whimsy and go to a lost and found in a department store, or fairness and take turns or flip coins. At larger scales, common salience or focal points and conventions drive a lot of our legal and financial coordination. An everyday example is driving on the left.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

tai toisella puolella. Se ei vÀlttÀmÀttÀ vÀlttÀmÀttÀ vÀlttÀmÀttÀ, kun kaikki yrittÀvÀt mennÀ samalla puolella. Kuten jokaisella naisella, joka kutsuu isÀnsÀ huomenna pÀivÀnÀ ja sanoo, ettÀ ole varma, kaveri, radio kertoo, ettÀ on maniakki, joka kÀy vÀÀrÀllÀ puolella. HÀn sanoo, ettÀ on yksi maniakki, jolla on kymmeniÀ.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

Another everyday example is money. I accept a piece of paper in exchange for an old chair because I know that my grocer will accept it in exchange for some groceries because he knows his supplier will accept it, and so on. Now, not all the examples are this obvious.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

Why are autocrats terrified of public protests? The basic reason was explained by Gandhi in the eponymous movie, when he said, 100,000 Englishmen cannot control 350 million Indians if the Indians refuse to cooperate. The problem is that the Indians can't refuse to cooperate if each one fears that no one will join him.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

In a public demonstration, each protester can see the other protesters see the other protesters, and this common knowledge allows them to coordinate their resistance, whether by literally storming the palace or by bringing the apparatus of the state to a halt through boycotts and work stoppages.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

This is the basis for a joke from the old Soviet Union, in which a man in Red Square is handing out leaflets to passers-by. Soon enough, the KGB arrest him, only to discover that the leaflets are blank sheets of paper. They say, what is the meaning of this? And the man says, what's there to say? It's so obvious.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

Jokein tÀrkeintÀ oli se, ettÀ hÀn jÀrjestÀisi yksinkertaisen yksinkertaisen tiedon. Jokaisessa tapauksessa, kun elokuva imitellÀÀn jokaisen, ruotsalaiset poliitikot harjoittelivat monia ihmisiÀ, joilla oli, kyllÀ, sydÀntöjÀ.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

Another non-obvious example comes from the world of investing. John Maynard Keynes compared speculative investing to a newspaper beauty contest, in which the winner is not the woman with the prettiest face, but the contestant who chooses the face that is chosen by the greatest number of other contestants, each of whom is anticipating the choices of other contestants, and so on.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

This can set off cycles of exuberant recursive mentalizing as investors desperately search for focal points, each one buying an investment not because of its inherent productive value, but because they hope to unload it at a profit on future investors, greater fools.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

This can set everyone off in search of conspicuous focal points, such as Super Bowl ads. Everyone knows that everyone watches the Super Bowl. In 2022, cryptocurrency exchanges ran high-concept ads in which they tried to gin up a common expectation of rising prices, not by touting any of the advantages of cryptocurrency, but by warning, don't be like Larry, don't miss out.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

Of course, it's only so long that an asset can levitate in midair, suspended by nothing but common expectation. Bubbles pop when the market runs out of greater fools who don't want to miss out on the next best thing, or when the doubt itself becomes common knowledge. This can send investors running for the exits, each desperate to sell a security out of fear that everyone else is desperate to sell it.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

Se voi olla pankkipalvelu, hyperinflaatio tai LÀmpötilanteessa. Kun Franklin Delano Roosevelt sanoi, ettÀ ainoa asia, jota meidÀn on odottaa, on odottaa itseÀmme, se ei ollut tunteehtoinen bromide, vaan yksinkertaisen tietoisuuden sÀÀntö.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

With investors constantly on the lookout for focal points, financial leaders have to be wordsmiths, mystics and occasionally comedians. Alan Greenspan once said, since I've become a central banker, I've learned to mumble with great incoherence. If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

After Jimmy Carter told his inflation czar Alfred Kahn never to use the self-fulfilling word depression, he said, OK, but we're in danger of having the biggest banana in 45 years.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

Oma kiinnostuni yhteiskunnallisesta tiedostolaisuudesta tulee sosiaalisista yhteiskunnista. Yhteiskunta on koordinaatio. Kaksi ihmistÀ ovat ystÀviÀ, rakastajia, ystÀviÀ, dominantteja ja ystÀviÀ tai liikuntapartnerit, koska jokainen tietÀÀ, ettÀ toinen tietÀÀ, ettÀ he ovat. TÀmÀ yhteiskunnallinen tiedostolaisuus voidaan kÀsitellÀ monien yhteiskunnallisen tiedostolaisuuden sijaan.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

kuten nÀkökontakti, jossa nÀet osan henkilöstÀ, joka nÀkee osan sinua, joka nÀkee osan heitÀ. Tai blushing, jossa tunnet kÀrsimystÀ kÀrsimyksestÀsi sisÀllÀ, kun tiedÀt, ettÀ muita ihmisiÀ voivat nÀhdÀ sen ulkopuolelta. Tai rauha, jossa ymmÀrrettÀvÀ ÀÀni voidaan ymmÀrtÀÀ yksinkertaisista ajatuksista kaikkien, jotka saavat rauhaa.

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

Toisaalta, kun huolehdimme ylipÀÀnsÀ yhteisöstÀ, voimme mennÀ suurelle kohdalle ylipÀÀnsÀ ymmÀrtÀmÀÀn yksiköiden tietoa. Voimme vÀlttÀmÀttÀ odottaa jokaisen nÀkökulmasta, tai vÀlttÀmÀttÀ vÀlttÀmÀttÀ vÀlttÀmÀttÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀnsÀ ylipÀÀns

TED Talks Daily
How common knowledge shapes the world | Steven Pinker

blurt out what we mean in so many words, but veil our intentions in innuendo and euphemism, counting on our listeners to catch our drift. A classic example is the sexual come on, Would you like to come up and see my etchings?, which by the 1930s was so familiar that James Thurber could draw a cartoon in which the hapless man says to his date, You wait here, and I'll bring the etchings down.