🌊 How Harvard Has Changed: An Insider's View

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How Harvard Has Changed: An Insider's View

Harvard is not known for its intellectual freedom: Just this year, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ranked it dead last among 248 American universities for freedom of expression. Its speech climate was ranked “abysmal”; for comfort expressing ideas, it ranked 193rd. 

Yet within its walls is Steven Pinker – one of the most free-thinking people in academia. 

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The Canada-born Pinker made his name by answering questions like, “How do we know to say ‘I walk’ and ‘I walked,’ but also ‘I bring’ and ‘I brought?’”

While he received a Harvard PhD in linguistics, the 69-year-old has branched out over his decades of research and teaching. After 20 years as a professor at MIT and another 20 at Harvard, his X bio now describes Pinker as a “cognitive scientist.”

In practice, Pinker is someone who tries to understand the biggest trends in the world and what is driving them. He believes progress isn’t a force like gravity, but a result of “enlightenment values,” like reason and individual freedom, that allow truth to prevail. The emergence of truth, he believes, has made poverty rarer, lives longer, and wars less deadly. 

Yet Pinker believes truth will only emerge if the world is willing to question its existing beliefs. His willingness to do so has put him at odds with both sides: Many on the left accuse him of abetting sexism, racism, and other negative ideologies; many on the right label him a godless liberal. The fact that Bill Gates has labeled Pinker’s books his favorites doesn’t help. 

In recent years, Pinker has targeted his criticism at “illiberalism,” which he says exists on all sides and seeks to prevent people from speaking freely. In 2020, activists and journalists dug up tweets in which Pinker suggested racism was not leading police to kill black people. Academics responded by trying to get Pinker removed from academic circles; he, in turn, labeled the critics “speech police” and intensified calls to fight cancel culture.

Last year, Pinker co-founded Harvard’s “Council on Academic Freedom,” which seeks to restore faith in universities by protecting free expression on campus. But is that an achievable task or a fool’s errand? To find out, we drove to Pinker’s office in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

We spent an hour discussing the world with Dr. Pinker. Among many topics, we covered what is driving attacks on free speech (11:39); how his students have changed over time (20:39); if a Harvard degree is worth less than it once was (24:05); if he self-censors (36:08); and why he was pictured with Jeffrey Epstein (38:51). 

It was a far-reaching and enjoyable conversation. You can watch on YouTube below or listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The interview is on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. We promise you it’s worth a listen.

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Max F and Max T

RocaNews co-founders