Steven Pinker has a new book out, “The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature.” Edge has a lengthy interview with him. Pinker’s book fights the “blank slate” view of mind, that we are all formed by parenting, nurturing, society. His ammunition is the results of studies in the field of behavioral genetics. Although the brain has a great capacity to learn, “research is showing that many properties of the brain are genetically organized, and don’t depend on information coming in from the senses.” So the old nature versus nurture arguments get some weight on the nature side from the dominance and persistence of our genes. (Thanks Skot)