The purpose of language is to coordinate human behaviour and this starts from the earliest moments in our life. When three-year-olds are taught the word ‘mouse’ they do not worry that it means other things to other people. They tacitly assume ‘ common knowledge ’. The same cognitive talent also takes its own outputs and feeds these back into more cognition, which is how human progress happens.
Thus, in his new book When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows … Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage , cognitive scientist Steven Pinker has a new focal point (common knowledge) alongside the running theme of his broader work, ‘recursive mentalising’. As in, I know something and you know it with common knowledge, also, I know that you know it and I know that you know that I know…
Pluralistic ignorance | In dictatorships, people conceal their political opinion to avoid being punished, so they can’t know if their discontent is widely shared. A demonstration in a public place can, however, generate the common knowledge neededto coordinate resistance.
Why have the past two decades seen the success rate of nonviolent civil resistance campaigns start to decline (though they still outperform the violent ones)? Because of the dictators’ learning curve. Their censors now squelch posts that might coordinate action.
You can’t agree to disagree | Facts don’t care about your feelings. Pinker asks, why should the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or life on Mars, or the gunman of Nov 1963, care about your melanin or your genitals or your DNA or what you learned at your mother’s knee? Real human disagreements can come from dishonesty as much as from incompetence. Either way, what we need to do is make our own deliberation more rational.
The canceling instinct | It comes from the fear that common knowledge is what makes an idea dangerous. What Pinker reminds us is that the moral order did not collapse when people accepted that the Earth was not the centre of the cosmos, nor that humans were descended from apes.
Humans have clawed increments of progress out of an indifferent universe only by the process of conjecture and refutation, where the better ideas prevail in the long run. Universities cannot discover and transmit knowledge without intellectual freedom . And an academic establishment that stifles debate can end up providing false guidance on vital issues.
Pinker writes that many of the early policies for combatting the pandemic – including draconian lockdowns – have now been revealed as not being based on scientific evidence. They were imposed by demonising what turned out to be reasonable criticisms. The toll this took on the economy, on mental health, on children’s education also undercut people’s trust in science and public health .
Rational hypocrisy | But guess what Pinker says is the ultimate dishonesty? Calling for complete honesty! Everywhere the rationale for obliterating zones of privacy is, if you aren’t doing anything wrong you should have nothing to hide. But neither authentic human relationships nor homo sapiens’ overall interdependence would survive making every wisecrack, conversation and thought public.
While the historical trend of transparency is welcome, civilisation won’t survive putting every kind of private and reciprocal knowledge into common knowledge.
Thus, in his new book When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows … Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage , cognitive scientist Steven Pinker has a new focal point (common knowledge) alongside the running theme of his broader work, ‘recursive mentalising’. As in, I know something and you know it with common knowledge, also, I know that you know it and I know that you know that I know…
Pluralistic ignorance | In dictatorships, people conceal their political opinion to avoid being punished, so they can’t know if their discontent is widely shared. A demonstration in a public place can, however, generate the common knowledge neededto coordinate resistance.
Why have the past two decades seen the success rate of nonviolent civil resistance campaigns start to decline (though they still outperform the violent ones)? Because of the dictators’ learning curve. Their censors now squelch posts that might coordinate action.
You can’t agree to disagree | Facts don’t care about your feelings. Pinker asks, why should the SARS-CoV-2 virus, or life on Mars, or the gunman of Nov 1963, care about your melanin or your genitals or your DNA or what you learned at your mother’s knee? Real human disagreements can come from dishonesty as much as from incompetence. Either way, what we need to do is make our own deliberation more rational.
The canceling instinct | It comes from the fear that common knowledge is what makes an idea dangerous. What Pinker reminds us is that the moral order did not collapse when people accepted that the Earth was not the centre of the cosmos, nor that humans were descended from apes.
Humans have clawed increments of progress out of an indifferent universe only by the process of conjecture and refutation, where the better ideas prevail in the long run. Universities cannot discover and transmit knowledge without intellectual freedom . And an academic establishment that stifles debate can end up providing false guidance on vital issues.
Pinker writes that many of the early policies for combatting the pandemic – including draconian lockdowns – have now been revealed as not being based on scientific evidence. They were imposed by demonising what turned out to be reasonable criticisms. The toll this took on the economy, on mental health, on children’s education also undercut people’s trust in science and public health .
Rational hypocrisy | But guess what Pinker says is the ultimate dishonesty? Calling for complete honesty! Everywhere the rationale for obliterating zones of privacy is, if you aren’t doing anything wrong you should have nothing to hide. But neither authentic human relationships nor homo sapiens’ overall interdependence would survive making every wisecrack, conversation and thought public.
While the historical trend of transparency is welcome, civilisation won’t survive putting every kind of private and reciprocal knowledge into common knowledge.
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