Talk:Steven Pinker

Semi-protected edit request on 15 September 2025

Steven Pinker's new book.

When Everyone Knows that Everyone Knows... (2025)

He was on Bill Maher. Can't post a link to audible for some reason. 76.26.106.160 (talk) 16:11, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

What change to the article are you suggesting? The book has already been added to the article, even though it's not published until 23 September. Including it now suggests some kind of WP:PROMO. So I am inclined to remove it, until it has actually been published and/or it has been the subject of some kind of WP:RS review(s). Martinevans123 (talk) 16:20, 15 September 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 19 September 2025

Change "Canadian" to "Canadian-born American" or take out "Canadian" This is the first sentence: Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954)[2][3] is a Canadian cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. Pinker is now an American citizen. The first sentence could be: Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954)[2][3] is a Canadian-born American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author, and public intellectual. I have no evidence. I learned from videos that his wife is an American philosophy professor, and the he officially became an American citizen. Wparadigm (talk) 14:11, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

Do you have any source(s) to support the claim that he has relinquished his Canadian citizenship? Or is this now automatically lost, these days, by means of some Presidential executive decree? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 15:18, 19 September 2025 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Steven Pinker and Jeffrey Epstein on 2002 Flight to TED conference in Monterey, California.png

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 02:21, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

WP:PUBLICFIGURE issues with Jeffrey Epstein section

I believe that the series of edits made to the article that created the Interactions with Jeffrey Epstein section should be reverted until the content is rewritten and sourced in accordance with the requirements for public figures under the biographies of living persons policy. Pinker qualifies as a public figure (per the BLP policy's explanatory essay for distinguishing high-profile from low-profile individuals and the subject-specific notability guidelines for persons and academics), but most of the claims in the section are contentious and are not mostly referenced with multiple sources that are reliable and independent.

Much of the content uses a Medium post written by Dylan Evans, Twitter posts by Pinker, and a Why Evolution is True blog post that includes comments by Pinker as second sources for claims when cited. Perennial source discussions have established a community consensus that Medium posts should never be used for third-party claims related to living persons because it is a self-published source—which is what the biographies of living persons policy for self-published sources requires in general. As for Pinker's comments in the Twitter and blog posts, the biographies of living persons policy requires that self-published sources authored by the subject of a Wikipedia article only be used when it does not involve claims about third parties (which the Twitter and blog posts all effectively do are since they discuss Pinker's interactions with other persons). Moreover, some claims included in the section are made without even a second source cited at all.

As such, I believe the edits made to the article since December 21 that created and expanded the section do not follow the biographies of living persons policy. Per the policy's requirements to immediately remove poorly sourced material, I will revert the content back to the December 4 revision until further comment. -- CommonKnowledgeCreator (talk) 04:02, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

I worked on the section with sourcing I found. It is true that currently, there do not exist enough reliable secondary sources to corroborate the timeline, Pinker's commentary, and further criticisms. I've saved my edits in a draft, and will consider reimplementing it should more independent, reliable sourcing be released. JulDer Wiki (talk) 22:30, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

Agreed, that material needs much improvement before it really satisfies BLP policies. There are also WP:DUE issues with its length. Crossroads ^-talk- 23:29, 26 December 2025 (UTC)

There are also WP:DUE issues with its length. Agree with this as well. The length of the section was outsized in light of what the few reliable sources said about Pinker and Epstein's few interactions (e.g. only met on three occasions, no research funding relationship, no correspondence, probable mutual disliking of one another), but also when considering that the December 4 revision of the article already noted Pinker's interactions with Alan Dershowitz related to Epstein. -- CommonKnowledgeCreator (talk) 00:38, 27 December 2025 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 4 May 2026

~2026-27110-03 (talk) 00:00, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

Autism

Pinker compared autistics to chimps and robots in his book The Blank Slate. ~2026-27110-03 (talk) 00:01, 5 May 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want made. Please detail the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Cannolis (talk) 01:04, 5 May 2026 (UTC)