Jul 3 2009: I think the sabers could have been rattled in a more coherent way and one that was less reliant on half-baked soundbytes (and that bizarre monkey business).
I agree with Guy that we have to address questions such as the great disparity of resources and opportunities. The point of the talk, I believe was that it is unhelpful to the process of change to view the past with rose-colored glasses, or to think that the way to move forward is to return to the past. As Pinker said at the end of the talk, we need to look at both what we're doing wrong and what we've done right. To just throw a blanket criticism on our leaders (or generation or species) puts us in the position of perpetually having to reinvent the wheel. Believing that we've come a long ways but still have a long ways to go is going to be far more productive than saying, "we suck (or the government sucks or society sucks), this is hopeless. Well, nothing for it but tear the whole thing down and start again."
Comments
TEDCred score: +4
TEDCred gives you a total score on all your comments on TED.com.
A reply on Talk: Steven Pinker on the myth of violence
I agree with Guy that we have to address questions such as the great disparity of resources and opportunities. The point of the talk, I believe was that it is unhelpful to the process of change to view the past with rose-colored glasses, or to think that the way to move forward is to return to the past. As Pinker said at the end of the talk, we need to look at both what we're doing wrong and what we've done right. To just throw a blanket criticism on our leaders (or generation or species) puts us in the position of perpetually having to reinvent the wheel. Believing that we've come a long ways but still have a long ways to go is going to be far more productive than saying, "we suck (or the government sucks or society sucks), this is hopeless. Well, nothing for it but tear the whole thing down and start again."