robert neill hansen

“Let us emphasize (we really shouldn’t have to) that Rousseau’s effusions on the fundamental decency of human nature and lost ages of freedom and equality were in no sense themselves responsible for the French Revolution.”
― David Graeber, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

“Every statistics student is warned that “statistical significance” is a technical concept that should not be confused with “significance” in the vernacular sense of noteworthy or consequential.”
― Steven Pinker, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters

“The Salem witch-hunt, like all witch-hunts, was conducted not by an individual acting alone but by a group. All types of groups are capable of behaving in ways that would shock the consciences of their individual members. But those that espouse a morality of censure and blame rather than compassion and empathy are utterly merciless toward objects of hatred. The more a group idealizes itself, its own values, and its God, the more it persecutes both other groups and the dissenters in its midst. In doing so it protects”
― Frances Hill, A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor favor to those of skill, but time and chance happen to them all. An essential part of rationality is dealing with randomness in our lives and uncertainty in our knowledge.”
― Steven Pinker, Rationality