One of the world-s greatest thinkers investigates the logic and psychology of common knowledge
As a cognitive scientist, the ultimate subject of Steven Pinker-s fascination is how we think about each other-s thoughts, ad infinitum. It sounds impossible, but Steven Pinker shows that we do it all the time. This awareness, which we experience as something that is public or -out there,- is called common knowledge, and it has a momentous impact on our social, political, and economic lives.
Common knowledge, Pinker shows, can make sense of many of life-s enigmas: financial bubbles and crashes, revolutions that come out of nowhere, the posturing and pretence of diplomacy, the eruption of social media shaming mobs and academic cancel culture, the awkwardness of a first date. But people also go to great lengths to avoid common knowledge-to ensure that even if everyone knows something, they can-t know that everyone else knows they know it. And so we get rit
