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| | APS Observer - Empirical Science for the Spotless Mind |
 | | The blank slate, the dominant theory of human nature in modern intellectual life stating that humans are shaped entirely by their experiences and not by any preexisting biological mechanisms, is being challenged and soundly trounced by the cognitive, neural, and genetic sciences, said Steven Pinker, Harvard University, in his Keynote Address. |
 | | As Pinker argued, this trilogy of theories becomes undone, repeatedly and irreparably, under the lenses of modern science — particularly, cognitive understanding, evolutionary psychology, and neurology. |
 | | When they were reunited in their 40s at a Minnesota lab, both of them were wearing identical navy blue shirts with epaulets; rubber bands around their wrists; flushed the toilet before using it as well as after; and intentionally sneezed in crowded elevators to watch other people jump. |
| www.psychologicalscience.org /observer/getArticle.cfm?id=1814 (1289 words) |
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