Psychologist and writer’s appearance on Aporia condemned for helping to normalise ‘dangerous, discredited ideas’
The Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker appeared on the podcast of Aporia, an outlet whose owners advocate for a revival of race science and have spoken of seeking “legitimation by association” by platforming more mainstream figures.
The appearance underlines past incidents in which Pinker has encountered criticism for his association with advocates of so-called “human biodiversity”, which other academics have called a “rebranding” of racial genetic essentialism and scientific racism.
Pinker’s appearance marks another milestone in the efforts of many in Silicon Valley and rightwing media and at the fringes of science to rehabilitate previously discredited models of a biologically determined racial hierarchy.
My apologies, I didn’t notice the different name.
The ability, certainly. The time or inclination, not so much. Sorry, if people can’t be bothered to do the legwork to support their own arguments I’m certainly not going to do it for them; if you’re going to cite me a source to back up your argument the evidence you claim is on that page should actually be on that page, not buried in some link halfway down it.
Actually I didn’t downvote; I almost never downvote unless the comment is trolling or being a shitlord or whatever.
What I’m interested in learning is why the person who replied initially thinks evolutionary psychology as a field his racist, because that was the initial - rather extraordinary - claim, for which I have yet to see any evidence. I am not at all surprised to learn that a scientific field (especially one within the field of psychology) has critics, and while I’m sure those criticisms are valid and interesting, it’s kinda beside the point.