Just once I'd like a popular N.American public intellectual to not be a grifter.
For those who don't know, Pinker is a 'techno-optimist' which means that he believes that iphones and AI are going to solve all the problems of neoliberalism.
If you've ever heard the argument "but poverty worldwide is down and we're living in an unprecedented era of peace", it's this fucking guy.
The whole "TED" circuit is just Shark-Tank for academics. Only instead of good business ideas, they're competing to reassure rich liberals that they're good people and the status quo is moral and right.