Wow. Great, fun, full conversation. Many insights. Now to re-read McEwan's books. Only now, at 70, am I re-reading. Recently re-read ''Kafka on the Shore''....3 times! So enjoyed it, each reading different
There's a big difference between art-lit writers and intellectuals. Houellebecq said that exactly that happens to him: once the intellectuals start talking, he gets very bored and has to walk away.
I think the hesitations and lip smacking, etc., are merely his language instinct, so to speak. Though I agree they're a bit more pronounced in this encounter, especially at the start.
I don’t agree that declining to have children because of the dreadful state of the human community is pessimism. Having children is basically selfish. You know perfectly well your child is going to have an appalling time struggling through the innumerable vicissitudes that will plague it from birth to death, yet you proceed with the indulgence that results in its birth. Awful irresponsibility in my opinion. Add to this the global warming dimension in which a prime component is over- population and you have typical middle -class ignorance living the life it’s addictions lead it through regardless of anything going on around it. A foetus is not a living being and has no thinking capacity of its own. But then people have written books about talking railway trains and cars. It’s not a book I’m going to read
The fact that there's life from the moment of conception is cience proved, besides the fact that a lot of born people also don't have thinking capacity of their own. And even still, reducing human beings to mere thinkers is a quite blunt reductionism (and that's coming from somebody that's all for abortion rights). That being said, the book itself talks about wars, contamination, global warming and a lot of other problems taking place parallel to the books main plot and the foetus himself questions why nobody is worried about them or has worries beyond their daily problems (I found this to be funny, since it's something you could have only found out had you read the book before judging it in a rather obtuse way) . Still, if that's the only thing that you can take from a book that you haven't read and compare it to "talking cars", when the work itself is deeply philosophical and questions the reaches of human kindness, love, complexity, selfishness and so on in a decading community, yes, I too agree that you shouldn't read it. It would be a waste of a copy of an excellent book.
Brilliant but please please Mr Pinker stop 'er....er...er'ing! Yes it's important to choose your words carefully but not at the expense of flowing conversation. I'd rather you made more grammatical mistakes and periodically chose the less fitting word or phrase than have to listen to the cumulatively irritating ers. To 'er' is human, to 'flow' divine. But I do also think you're fab:)
I read an Ageist McKewan "comedy" and it was the worst book I've ever read (apart from The Slap); can't remember the title as it was such a forgettable story. Take a look at this person's disgusting comments on Brexit - Ageist and discriminatory. McKewan is juvenile in his comments on Brexit where he came out with Ageist comments saying that "Oldsters" should die. Forgive me for my common, vulgar faux pas (faux passes?) - I am merely a Brit who walks among the streets of the British islands communicating with the hoi polloi - we don't care what you think - we care what's good for our islands.
Ian McEwen is a treasure for the literate especially for the remarkable plots he creates, many of which are uncanny constructions.
Wow. Great, fun, full conversation. Many insights. Now to re-read McEwan's books. Only now, at 70, am I re-reading. Recently re-read ''Kafka on the Shore''....3 times! So enjoyed it, each reading different
I could keep listening to them talk about anything for hours.
wonderful author
What a fascinating concept, definitely going to read this book.
I thought it was a masterpiece.
I get a kick out of whenever McEwan gets so bored while Pinker rambles on that he takes a drink of water for something to do.
There's a big difference between art-lit writers and intellectuals. Houellebecq said that exactly that happens to him: once the intellectuals start talking, he gets very bored and has to walk away.
I wonder if Ian enjoys the Deptford and Valis trilogies
7:25 “no trigger warnings”
So its about Stewie Griffin?
Steven seems nervous, or not in the moment, no?
Maybe at times, not during all the conversation.
I think the hesitations and lip smacking, etc., are merely his language instinct, so to speak. Though I agree they're a bit more pronounced in this encounter, especially at the start.
It's ironic that this video has an ambiguous pronoun (his) in the title, seeing that Steven Pinker has spoken about these things a lot.
Ambiguous, but there is a strong convention that this sort of possessive should refer to the most recently mentioned person/thing.
Henry Meade the fact that so much fuss goes into such small things is this is hilarious to me.
Brahma Kumaris say - the world story repeats every 5000 years,
I don’t agree that declining to have children because of the dreadful state of the human community is pessimism.
Having children is basically selfish. You know perfectly well your child is going to have an appalling time struggling through the innumerable vicissitudes that will plague it from birth to death, yet you proceed with the indulgence that results in its birth. Awful irresponsibility in my opinion.
Add to this the global warming dimension in which a prime component is over- population and you have typical middle -class ignorance living the life it’s addictions lead it through regardless of anything going on around it.
A foetus is not a living being and has no thinking capacity of its own. But then people have written books about talking railway trains and cars. It’s not a book I’m going to read
The fact that there's life from the moment of conception is cience proved, besides the fact that a lot of born people also don't have thinking capacity of their own. And even still, reducing human beings to mere thinkers is a quite blunt reductionism (and that's coming from somebody that's all for abortion rights). That being said, the book itself talks about wars, contamination, global warming and a lot of other problems taking place parallel to the books main plot and the foetus himself questions why nobody is worried about them or has worries beyond their daily problems (I found this to be funny, since it's something you could have only found out had you read the book before judging it in a rather obtuse way) .
Still, if that's the only thing that you can take from a book that you haven't read and compare it to "talking cars", when the work itself is deeply philosophical and questions the reaches of human kindness, love, complexity, selfishness and so on in a decading community, yes, I too agree that you shouldn't read it. It would be a waste of a copy of an excellent book.
Really annoying the guy in the audience telling Ian to go reread Moby Dick. People come to these things to hear the author not your favourite book.
god this drivel makes me want to puke.
Brilliant but please please Mr Pinker stop 'er....er...er'ing! Yes it's important to choose your words carefully but not at the expense of flowing conversation. I'd rather you made more grammatical mistakes and periodically chose the less fitting word or phrase than have to listen to the cumulatively irritating ers. To 'er' is human, to 'flow' divine. But I do also think you're fab:)
I read an Ageist McKewan "comedy" and it was the worst book I've ever read (apart from The Slap); can't remember the title as it was such a forgettable story.
Take a look at this person's disgusting comments on Brexit - Ageist and discriminatory.
McKewan is juvenile in his comments on Brexit where he came out with Ageist comments saying that "Oldsters" should die.
Forgive me for my common, vulgar faux pas (faux passes?) - I am merely a Brit who walks among the streets of the British islands communicating with the hoi polloi - we don't care what you think - we care what's good for our islands.