Noam Chomsky || Human Nature and Human Progress

Today it’s great to have the legendary Noam Chomsky on the podcast. Noam is a public intellectual, linguist, and political activist. He’s the author of many influential books, including Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, and his latest book with Robert Pollin called Climate Crisis and The Green New Deal: The Political Economy of Saving The Planet. Chomsky is also known for helping to initiate and sustain the cognitive revolution. He’s the Laureate Professor of Linguistics at The University of Arizona and Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT.

Audio

Full Video

Topics

[02:06] The cognitive revolution of the ‘50s and ‘60s

[03:49] Noam’s first encounter with behaviorism

[12:41] What it was like to be part of the cognitive revolution

[17:49] Implicit learning and artificial grammar

[26:30] Noam’s view on modern-day behavioral genetics

[28:05] Noam’s thoughts on intelligence

[32:02] Noam’s take on creativity

[37:00] Chomsky’s view vs. Foucault’s view

[40:39] Noam’s thoughts on modern-day social justice movements

[43:35] Is there such a thing as a human nature?

[46:55] Identity vs. human nature

[52:42] Noam’s views on race consciousness in America

[57:04] Why Noam thinks Trump is the worst criminal in human history

[58:09] How can democrats appeal to Trump supporters?

[1:01:58] Cancel culture

[1:03:01] The complexities of the slogan “defund the police”

[1:08:00] Noam reflects on his life regrets

[1:08:45] Chomsky’s life advice

About the guest

Noam Chomsky

Podcast Guest

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American intellectual, philosopher, linguist, political activist, and social critic. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Noam Chomsky || Human Nature and Human Progress

Noam Chomsky

11 years ofhuman possibility

11 years of
human possibility