A...reason we are so-so scientists is that our brains were shaped for fitness, not for truth. Sometimes truth is adaptive, but sometimes it is not.
Steven PinkerEquality is not the empirical claim that all groups of humans are interchangeable; it is the moral principle that individuals should not be judged or constrained by the average properties of their group.
Steven PinkerEveryone's pedigree merges into everyone else's pedigree. So if you go back far enough, everyone is related.
Steven PinkerIf you give people literacy, bad ideas can be attacked and experiments tried, and lessons will accumulate.
Steven Pinker