As I explain in the introduction to the full conversation with Noam, due to an unfortunate rare mishap, this conversation is audio-only (and so is the clip). Hope you still enjoy it and find it interesting. Full episode with Noam Chomsky (Nov 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMscNuSUy0I
(more links below)

Clips channel (Lex Clips): https://www.youtube.com/lexclips
Main channel (Lex Fridman): https://www.youtube.com/lexfridman



Podcast full episodes playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4

Podcasts clips playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41

Podcast website:
https://lexfridman.com/ai

Podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes):
https://apple.co/2lwqZIr

Podcast on Spotify:
https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8

Podcast RSS:
https://lexfridman.com/category/ai/feed/

Noam Chomsky is one of the greatest minds of our time and is one of the most cited scholars in history. He is a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. He has spent over 60 years at MIT and recently also joined the University of Arizona.

Subscribe to this YouTube channel or connect on:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman
- Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman

You've said that evil in society arises from institutions, not inherently from our nature.

Do you think most human beings are good, they have good intent, or do most have the capacity for intentional evil that depends on their upbringing, depends on their environment, on context.

I wouldn't say that they don't arise from our nature.

And the fact that we have certain institutions, not others, is 1 mode in which human nature has expressed itself.

But as far as we know, human nature could yield many different kinds of institutions.

The particular ones that have developed have to do with historical contingency, who conquered whom and that sort of thing.

Then they're not rooted in our nature in the sense that they're essential to our nature.

So it's commonly argued that these days that something like market systems is just part of our nature.

But we know from a huge amount of evidence that that's not true.

It's a particular fact about a moment of modern history.

Others have argued that the roots of classical liberalism actually argue that what's called sometimes an instinct for freedom, instinct to be free of domination by illegitimate authority is the core of our nature.

And we don't know, we just know that human nature can accommodate both kinds.


Speaker 0: You've said that evil in society arises from institutions, not inherently from our nature. Do you think most human beings are good, they have good intent, or do most have the capacity for intentional evil that depends on their upbringing, depends on their environment, on context.

Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that they don't arise from our nature. Anything we do arises from our nature. And the fact that we have certain institutions, not others, is 1 mode in which human nature has expressed itself. But as far as we know, human nature could yield many different kinds of institutions. The particular ones that have developed have to do with historical contingency, who conquered whom and that sort of thing.

Then they're not rooted in our nature in the sense that they're essential to our nature. So it's commonly argued that these days that something like market systems is just part of our nature. But we know from a huge amount of evidence that that's not true. There's all kinds of other structures. It's a particular fact about a moment of modern history.

Others have argued that the roots of classical liberalism actually argue that what's called sometimes an instinct for freedom, instinct to be free of domination by illegitimate authority is the core of our nature. That would be the opposite of this. And we don't know, we just know that human nature can accommodate both kinds. You

See all Lex Fridman transcripts on Youtube

Noam Chomsky: Good and Evil in Human Nature