steven pinker welcome to hardtalk. thank you.s idea of the enlightenment is very dear to your heart. can you briefly, if you will, just capture for me what you mean by the enlightenment. it refers to the intellectual movement in the second half of the 18th century that put a premium on reason as opposed to authority, tradition, dogma, charisma, on science, on the attempt to explain the world by testing hypotheses and on humanism, on the wellbeing of individual humans as the ultimate good as opposed to the glory of the nation or the tribe, or perpetuation of the faith. and a movement borne out of european thought but is it your proposition that it captures universal values? european and also american, but i guess that's an offshoot of europe. although every idea has to come from somewhere, so it is european in that sense, but it is based on reason which humans are universally capable and it's based on universal human interests. everyone wants a long life, everyone wants to be healthy, almost everyone wants knowledge and education.

so without further ado, please join me in welcoming steven pinker. [applause] >> thank you very much. from time to time, we all can some deep and difficult questions. why is the world filled with woe? how can we make it better? how do we give meaning and purpose to our lives? well, as difficult as these questions are, many people have answers to them. for example, some people believe that morality is dictated by god in holy scriptures. when everyone obeys his laws, the world will be perfect. or problems are the fault of evil people who must be shamed, punished and defeated. or our tribe should claim its rightful greatness under the control of a strong leader who embodies its authentic virtue. or in the past we lived in a state of order and harmony until be alien forces brought on tech dense and degeneration. we must restore the society to its golden age. well, what about the rest of us? in "enlightenment now," i argue that there is an alternative system of beliefs and values; namely, the ideals of the enlightenment. we can use knowledge to enhance hu

please join mee to welcome stephen pinker. [applause] >> thank you very much how many times we ask deep and difficult questions how do we make this better? hardly gave meaning and purpose to our lives? many people have answers and is dictated by god in holy scriptures it is the fault of evil people who must be shamed and punished and defeated. or to claim the rightful greatness with a strong leader or in the past order and harmony until forces come on the generation to restore the society. what about the rest of us? i argue there is an alternative system of beliefs and values with the ideals of the enlightenment to use knowledge many people embrace that and the need to describe them and the status quo of the ottablishmentp other ideologies have passionate advocates and i suggest this also needs a positive defense that is what i have have tried to do. the ideals of the enlightenment i suggest captured in four key ideas science reason humanism and progress. it all beginsil with reason with the realization traditional sources are

i'm glad we have brilliant thinkers like stephen pinker to help the big picture. enlightenment now it is my new favorite book of his. without further a do please join me to welcome stephen pinker. [applause] >> thank you very much. from time to time we all ask difficult questions. how can we make the world better had we give meaning and purpose to our lives? as difficult as these questions are for example some believe morality is dictated by the holy scripture and then the world would be perfect or the problems are the fault of either people who are shamed and punished and defeated or to claim the rightful greatness of a strong leader who embodies the authentic virtue or to live in a state of order and harmony until bringing on that degeneration restoring society to the golden age. enlightenment -- in "enlightenment now" i say there is an alternative system of beliefs and values with the enlightenment to use knowledge to enhance human flourishing. when people embrace those ideals fading into the background after the a step -- establish status quo. others have advo

steven pinker, welcome to hardtalk. thank you.hat you mean by the enlightenment? it refers to the intellectual movement in the second half of the 18th—century. it put a premium on reason as opposed to authority, tradition, dogma, charisma, on science, on the attempt to explain the world by testing hypotheses and on humanism, on the wellbeing of individual humans as the ultimate good as opposed to the glory of the nation or the tribe, or perpetuation of the faith. and a movement borne out of european thought but is it your proposition that it captures universal values? european and also american, but i guess that's an offshoot of europe. although every idea has to come from somewhere, so it is european in that sense, but it is based on reason which humans are universally capable and it's based on universal human interests. everyone wants a long life, everyone wants to be healthy, almost everyone wants knowledge and education. people would prefer to live in safety rather than in danger, all things being equal. science and reason hav

experimental cognitive scientist steven pinker explores extremism and authoritarianism.in his book "enlightenment now." and greg easterbrook addresses economic inequality, climate change and more in "it's better than it works." after that, microsoft president brian smith talks about artificial intelligence, and show retired major general who examines the future of warfare and evolving technologies in "future war." book tv this week in prime time, starting 8:00 p.m. eastern on cspan2. tuesday, an early look at the road to the white house 2020 with ohio governor john kasich. 2016 candidate travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. live coverage starts at 5:00 p.m. eastern on cspan. >>> tonight, landmark cases. griswold versus connecticut. challenged a connecticut law banning prescription and use of birth control. the supreme court ultimately ruled that unconstitutional, in the process established right to privacy still evolving today. our guest to discuss the case, helen alvare, law professor from george mason law school. and rachel rebouche, at temple univ

experimental cognitive scientist steven pinker describes thought processes behind extremisism an authoritarianism in his book "enlightenment now" then author gregg easterbrook introduces policy reforms to address economic inequality, climate change and more, in "it's better than it looks." later andrew keen with "how to fix the future." and after that, microsoft president brad smith discusses artificial intelligence in "the future computed." and we'll show retired air force major general robert latiff who examines the future of warfare and evolving technologies in "future war." booktv all this week in primetime beginning tonight at 8:30 eastern on c-span2. >>> and tuesday an early look at the road to the white house 2020 with ohio republican governor john kasich. 2016 presidential candidate travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. our live coverage from henniker, new hampshire, starts at 5:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >>> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies, and today, we continue to bring you

experimental cognitive scientist steven pinker explores the thought processes behind extremism and author tan yarenism in his book, "enlightenment now." and then andrew keen with "how to fix the future" and after that microsoft president brad smith discusses artificial intelligence in "the future complicated" and finally robert latiff examines the future of warfare and evolving technologies in "future war" book tv this week in primetime starting at 8:00 p.m. on cspan 2. >>> tuesday, it's an early look at the road to the white house in 2020, john kasich, the presidential 2016 candidate travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. starting at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >>> tonight on the communicators, ncta president michael powell he's interviewed by kyle daily of politico. >> my own belief is what's happening to facebook today was predictable and inevitable to some degree. i think that essentially you have a brilliant platform based advertising model that essentially emphasizes precision propaganda. and that precision propaganda can be used for good or for evil. and i think

experimental cognitive scientist steven pinker explores the thought processes behind extremism and authoritarianism in his book, "enlightenment now." then author greg easterbrook introduces policy reforms to address economic inequality, climate change and more in "it's better than it looks." and then andrew keen with "how to fix the future" and after that microsoft president brad smith discusses artificial intelligence in "the future computed" and we'll show major general robert latiff who examines the future of warfare and evolving technologies in "future war." book tv this week in primetime starting at 8:00 p.m. on cspan 2. >>> tuesday, it's an early look at the road to the white house 2020 with ohio republican governor john kasich. the 2016 presidential candidate travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. our live coverage starts at 5:30 eastern and that will be on c-span. >>> tonight on landmark cases, griswoldv. connecticut. it challenged the prescription and use of birth control. the supreme court ultimately ruled the statute to be unconstitutional and in the process establishe

is in primetime tonight as well with a look at the future experimental cognitive scientist steven pinker exploring the thought processes behind extremism and authoritarianism in his book "enlightenment now." and greg easter brooke explores policy and climate change in his book "better than it looks. ooh and brian keen in his book. and we will have show retired air force general robert latith about his strategies of future war. all of this tonight on book tv at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 2. >>> and then tuesday a look at the early road to the white house with a look at john kasich, the presidential candidate traveling to new hampshire to speak to new england college. this begins 5:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >>> tonight on "the communicators." the ncta president interviewed by kyle daily of plolitico. >> my belief of what is happening on facebook today is predictable and inevitable to some degree. i think that essentially, you have a brilliant platform-based adver tizing model that is essentially emphasizing precision propaganda. that precision propaganda can be use for good or evil. i th

in prime time tonight as well with a look at the future, experimental cognitive scientist stephen pinker explores the thought processes behind extremism and authori authoritarianism. and greg easterbrook addresses economic inequality, climate change and more in "it's better than it looks." later, andrew keene with "how to fix the future." after that, brad smith discusses artificial intelligence and the future computed. we will show retired air force major general robert lattith who explores the future of warfare and evolving technologies in "future war." all this week in prime time beginning tonight at 8:30 eastern on c-span 2. tuesday, an early look at the road to the white house 2020 with ohio republican governor john kasich. the 2016 presidential candidate travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. live coverage from henniker, new hampshire starts at 5:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> tonight on the communicators, ncta president michael powell is interviewed by kyle daily of politico. >> my own belief is what's happening to facebook today was predictable and inevitable to

in prime time tonight as well with a look at the future, experimental cognitive scientist stephen pinker and his book enlightenment now. author greg easterbrook introduces policy reforms to address economic inequality, climate change and more in it's better than it looks. and later, andrew keene with how to fix the future. after that, microsoft president brad smith discusses artificial intelligence in the future computed. and we will show retired air force major general robert lattit who examines the future of warfare and evolving technologies in future war. book tv all this week in prime time beginning tonight at 8:30 eastern on c-span 2. tuesday, an early look at the road to the white house 2020 with ohio republican governor john kasich, a 2016 presidential candidate travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. our live coverage starts at 5:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> tonight on the communicators, ncta president michael powell is interviewed by kyle daily of politico. >> my own belief is what's happening to facebook today was predictable and icnevitable to some degree. i

steven pinker explores the thought processes behind extremism in his book "enlightenment now." then greg easterbrook introduces policy reforms to address economic inequality, climate change and more. and andrew keen with "how to fix the future." after that artificial in "the future computed" and will show general robert latif in "future war." that's book tv all this week in primetime starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern over on c-span 2. and tuesday an early look at the road to the white house 2020 with ohio republican governor john kasich. the 2016 presidential candidate travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. our live coverage will start at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> tonight on "the communicators michael powell is interviewed by kyle bailey. >> my belief is what is happening to think that essentially you have a brilliant platform based advertising model that essentially emphasizes precision propaganda and that precision propaganda can be used for good or for evil. i think that you have had this mythology almost in the opening decade of the internet that inform

experimental cognitive scientist steven pinker explores the thought processes between behind extremism and authoritarianism in his book "enlightenment now." and then greg easterbrook introduces policy reforms for economic inequality, climate change, and more in" it's better than it looks." and brad smith discusses artificial intelligence in "the future computed" and we'll show robert latiff who examines the future of warfare in "future war." book tv all this week in primetime beginning at 8:30 eastern on c-span2, and tuesday, an early look at the road to the white house 2020 with ohio republican governor john kasich. 2016 republican presidential candidate travels to new hampshi hampshire. it starts at 5:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >>> tonight, on "landmark cases" griswold versus connecticut. estelle griswold of planned parenthood challenged a connecticut law banning the prescription and use of birth control. the supreme court ultimately ruled the statute to be unconstitutional, and in the process, established a right to privacy that is still evolving today. our guests to discuss this ca

violence and incidents of workers actually gone down i mean at least that's according to what steven pinker writes about and you know angels have a greater nature and you know we don't know enough necessarily about ai to think to be sure that it will be worse to have them better and i'll give a specific example i mean if there was a way to codified. not to kill civilians or to recognize children very clearly how does a much better job of this kind of stuff over time in the heat of battle and it also doesn't get tired or snappy you're angry it doesn't take drugs it isn't drunk you know it won't make the kind of human errors so i'm kind of on the fence both ways which i like better counter and also contact messy ican consecrates you with with you know one ten years humanitarian act and and can see them program it to have mercy could you do it i'll do it in the a masterful algorithm and what about these activities no sexual violence in the film neither so absolute i mean as horrendous things humans will just there's absolutely no doubt about that humans are entirely not to be fallible and ther

experimental cognitive scientist steven pinker explores thought processes behind extremism in his book "enlightenment now." and then policy reforms to address economic inequality, climate change and more in "it's better than it looks." later andrew keen with "how to fix the future." after that microsoft president in "the future computed." and examining the future of war fare and evolving technologies in "future war." book tv all this week in primetime over on c-span 2. tuesday an early look at the road to the white house 2020 with ohio republican governor john kasich. the 2016 presidential candidate travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. our live coverage starts at 5:30 eastern and that will be on c-span. >>> tonight on the communicators ncta president michael powell interviewed by kyle daily of politico. >> my own belief is what is happening to facebook today was predictable and inevitable to some degree. i think that essentially you have a brilliant platform based advertising model that essentially emphasizes precision propaganda and that precision propaganda can b

our guests to discuss this case one of theth pinker, five students who challenged the school district. she was 13 at the time. she began working as a free speech at the get for students, touring nationally. an independent litigator who has worked in more and work fors, supreme court justice clarence thomas in 1986. monday on c-span. join the conversation. follow us at c-span. we have resources on her website for background on each cases, a list of the national -- link to the national constitution center's constitution, and listen to the podcast at ndmarkcases.a tuesday >>, president trump welcomes french president emmanuel macron to the white house for an official state visit. our live coverage begins tuesday with the arrival of the french president and misses mar -- mrs. macron at the white house. live coverage of president trump's first state dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. eastern with guest arrivals and dinner toasts. the official state visit of french president emmanuel macron, live starting tuesday morning on c-span. c-span.org, and on the free c-span radio app. c-span, newsmakers is

experimental cognitive scientist stephen pinker in his book "enlightenment now." and then author gregg easterbrook introduces policy reforms to address economic inequality, climate change and more in "it's better than it looks." later, andrew keen with "how to fix the future." after that microsoft president brad smith discusses artificial intelligence in "the future computed." and we'll show retired air force major general robert latiff who examines the future of warfare and evolving technologies in "future war." booktv all this week in primetime beginning tonight at 8:30 eastern on c-span2. >>> tuesday, an early look at the road to the white house 2020 with ohio governor john kasich. 2016 presidential candidate travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. our live coverage from henniker, new hampshire, starts at 5:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >>> tonight on "the communicators," nca president, michael powell-nap president -- >> my own thoughts of facebook today was inevitable to some degree. you have platform based model that emphasizes precision pr pro

our guest to -- guests are mary beth pinker, one of the five students who challenged the district, 13 at the time. after two decades as a pediatric nurse, she worked as an advocate for students, touring district y as a speaker at schools and youth centers, and an independent federal appellant litigator with experience at the supreme court including work on more than 100 cases. justice clarence thomas in 1996. atch landmark cases tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span and join the conversation. #landmarkcases. follow us on c-span. websiteon her background on each case, the landmark cases companion book, a link to the national constitution center's international constitution, and a podcast at c-span.org/landmark cases. >> tuesday, president donald trump welcomes french president emmanuel macron to the white house for an official state visit. our live visit -- covered begins tuesday at the white house and welcoming remarks by the two heads of state. then, live coverage of president trump's friend's state dinner starting at six: 30 pm eastern with guest arrivals and dinner toasts. the offici

. >> i could be the pinker girl ever. >> the pink feels silly. i don't feel silly. i feel happy. >> m powered a little bit too. >> i feel fearless now. >> the cbs "overnight news" will be right back. >>> the average cost of building a home in the united states is about $237,000. it typically takes more than three months. but crews in austin, texas say they can do the job in less than two days. for a fraction of the cost using 3 d printing. >> reporter: this isn't a technology that is going to help a little niche of the way we think of shelter. this is a paradigm shift in the way we build houses. >> reporter: this technology starts with a one ton 3 d printer which squeezed out enough concrete to build a small, two bedroom one bathroom single family home. >> jason ballar dichltz co-founder of ikon. >> this house was printed 47 hours at quarter speed. at full speed, could have printed this house in 11, 12 hours. >> a home in 11, 12 hours. >> on version one of the technology. >> designed to take families that have been living in tents or shacks. and to bring them into,

steven pinker is a harvard college professor of psychology at harvard university. a two-time pulitzer prize finalist and the winner of many awards for his research, teaching and books, he has been named one of "time"'s 100 most influential people in the world today. and foreign policy's 100 global thinkers. he brings us tonight his new book,

>> they might be turning pinker. with terminology is fine in terms of what our policy might be. the eu, it is an all or nothing deal. the government is nowhere near, i do not think they will go near accepting free movement. they have an election to think about. mark: what do the polls tell us? want to remain out of it? do they know what a customs union is? >> these things are difficult to do polling on. -- thelish disease intricacies are not something that many people have familiarity with. when you ask people if you do not provide information, it is just for or against, you get of lot of i do not know. the way you do that has an impact on the answer. everything -- it is hard simply because there is no impartial westin. mark: one of the more interested developments was david cameron , he hadn interview disappeared into the background. he spoke to cnn and says he does not regret holes in the , but the country voted to remain. what did you make of it? there was not a whole lot of interest, which is surprising from some

experimental cognitive scientist steven pinker explores the thought processes between behind extremism and authoritarianism behind his book "enlightenment now." and we have climate change and more in "it's better than it looks." later, andrew keen with "how to fix the future" and after that, microsoft president brad smith discusses "the future computed" and finally, retired air force general robert latiff who discusses his book "future war" "book tv" starting at 8:00 p.m. on c-span 2. ohio republican governor john kasich, the 2016 presidential candidate, travels to new hampshire to speak at new england college. our live coverage starts at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >>> tonight, on "landmark cases" griswold versus connecticut. our guest to discuss this case are helen alverae, law professor and rachael ray buche. law professor at temple university. watch "landmark cases" tonight. follow us @c-span and we have resources on our website for background on each case. the landmark cases companion book and the landmark cases podcast at c-span.org/landmarkcases. >>> each week american artifact