[close] Steven Pinker's book The Blank Slate argues that all humans are born with some innate traits. Here, Pinker talks about his thesis, and why some people found it incredibly upsetting. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10 [close]

[close] In an exclusive preview of his book The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker looks at language and how it expresses what goes on in our minds -- and how the words we choose communicate much more than we realize. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10 [close]

[close] Steven Pinker charts the decline of violence from Biblical times to the present, and argues that, though it may seem illogical and even obscene, given Iraq and Darfur, we are living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10 [close]