Review

It’s a good book, in which I like Pinker’s brand view of humans, rationality, and the universe from the time and perception domain.

What is rationality?

“Human rationality is a hybrid system. The brain contains pattern associators that soak up family resemblances and aggregate large numbers of statistical clues. But it also contains a logical symbol manipulator that can assemble concepts into propositions and draw out their implications.”

The most impressive part of this book is why rationality matters. “Beginning to reason is like stepping onto an escalator that leads upward and out of sight. Once we take the first step, the distance to be traveled is independent of our will and we cannot know in advance where we shall end.”

“Since no one can know everything, and most people know almost nothing, rationality consists of outsourcing knowledge to institutions that specialize in creating and sharing it.”

To me, rationality helps secure the credibility of the trues of what happens around us and even science with an open mind of diversity, free questions, and critical thinking.