I started reading The Blank Slate. I think I know what Pinker is trying to say in the book and I think I understand his view. I am glad someone has decided to write a book about it in somewhat scientific way. I grew up championing Marxism and science, and I even went to study a hard science. But see, Marxism and science teach one how to think and how to question and how to reconcile. The more I learn, the more I know this is true--that there is more to what we can ever learn and know, that there's always more that is possible, that mysteries and the unknowable are perhaps what keep human beings sane and hopeful, and that only a flexible mind can hope to comprehend more. Human nature, ah, yes, beautiful, powerful, mysterious, and always beyond our grasp.

-- email excerpt to F.