Steven Pinker on Common Knowledge

2025-09-22 · 83 min · episode 1016 · 18 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ appeared on EconTalk podcast

0.63

evidence rules-v4
Steven Pinker on Common Knowledge
→ hosted by Russ Roberts person

0.55

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Russ Roberts
→ hosted by Library of Economics and Liberty person

0.55

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Library of Economics and Liberty
→ discusses Society & Culture concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Society & Culture
→ discusses Science concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Science
→ discusses Philosophy concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Philosophy
→ discusses Education concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Education
→ discusses Courses concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Courses
→ discusses Social Sciences concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Social Sciences

Entities found in this episode

concepts 12

mentioned Society & Culture concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Society & Culture
mentioned Science concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Science
mentioned Philosophy concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Philosophy
mentioned Education concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Education
mentioned Courses concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Courses
mentioned Social Sciences concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Social Sciences
discusses Society & Culture concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Society & Culture
discusses Science concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Science
discusses Philosophy concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Philosophy
discusses Education concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Education
discusses Courses concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Courses
discusses Social Sciences concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Social Sciences

persons 5

mentioned Russ Roberts person

0.70

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Russ Roberts
mentioned Library of Economics and Liberty person

0.70

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Library of Economics and Liberty
mentioned Steven Pinker person

0.66

evidence rules-v4
Steven Pinker on Common Knowledge
hosted by Russ Roberts person

0.55

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Russ Roberts
hosted by Library of Economics and Liberty person

0.55

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Library of Economics and Liberty

podcasts 1

appeared on EconTalk podcast

0.63

evidence rules-v4
Steven Pinker on Common Knowledge

Episode description as stored

Why are Super Bowl ads so good for launching certain kinds of new products? Why do we all drive on the same side of the road? And why, despite laughing and crying together, do we often misread what others think? According to bestselling author and Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, it all comes down to common knowledge, or the phenomenon that happens when everyone knows that everyone else knows something. Hear Pinker and EconTalk's Russ Roberts explore the necessary conditions for that knowledge, and how it can be both vital and dangerous to societies, depending on how it's used. They discuss, among other things, game-theory puzzles, how laughter spreads, how totalitarian regimes exploit uncertainty about who knows what (even when they don't), and why we often don't say explicitly what we really mean to say.