Blog

Steven Pinker Enthuses About Humanity’s Progress. So Why Do So Many People Hate Him?

The dismissive term “Pinkering” has been coined to describe applying a too-sunny gloss to world events. A cartoon strip published in Current Affairs shows a crazed-looking Pinker staring into a mirror: “Remember,” cartoon Pinker says to himself, “no matter what people say it’s statistically impossible for you to be the worst person on the planet.” In addition, a surprising number of detractors have referred to Harvard’s Johnstone family professor of psychology as “Peven Stinker,” which, while not exactly an argument, does capture a certain disdain. – Chronicle of Higher Education

That Caravaggio Found In The Attic Is Being Handled With Unusual Honesty

There has been plenty of disagreement about whether the painting of Judith beheading Holofernes that turned up in Toulouse in 2016 is an original Caravaggio or a copy. But the people selling it are doing the right things: allowing every scholar that wants examine it access, being generous with shows to the public, and leaving the sale to the auctioneer that found it rather than passing it to Sotheby’s or Christie’s. If only this sort of behavior weren’t so rare. – Apollo

Study: The Key To Successful Small Talk

The key to making the most out of small talk, according to Harvard researchers, is to simply ask the other person follow-up questions. In a series of experiments, researchers analyzed more than 300 online conversations and found that those who were asked more meaningful follow-up questions (a.k.a. questions that aren’t “how are you?” or “what do you do?”), found the other person much more likable. – CNBC

Peabody Essex Museum Names New Director

“After a five-month search, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem has hired Brian Kennedy as its new director and CEO. Kennedy, now 57 years old, was born in Dublin and has worked for museums on three continents, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College and the National Gallery of Ireland. He currently heads the Toledo Museum of Art, where he’s been since 2010.” – WBUR (Boston)

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt On Understanding Versus Advocating

“The mission of a university I believe should be to understand. And if you do a great job of research, that can be the basis for all kinds of activism later. But if you start with a commitment to a certain way of seeing the world, and you start with a belief that some people are good and some people are bad, I think it makes it very hard to understand real social systems.” – Nautilus

Teaching Students To Distinguish Real News, Fake News, And Bias (And What Happens When You Learn You Have To Interrogate **Everything**)

At the Ross School, a very pricey K-12 institution in the Hamptons, faculty have worked hard to create what CJR calls “the best media literacy program money can buy.” Alexandria Neason looks at how that program has been put together, how it’s been adapted to changes in media technology and current events, what elements are taught more widely around the U.S., and the feelings that developing media savvy brings forth in the kids themselves. – Columbia Journalism Review