Psychologist Steven Pinker has been described as one of the 100 most influential people in the world today. In a series of bestselling books, he has applied evolutionary theory to the study of the mind, seeing the brain as a computer and human nature as instinctive, shaped and determined by natural selection. Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks is a leading exponent of Judaism, both as a scholar and a theologian. He has written extensively about Judaism’s emphasis on moral responsibility and ...

She is glamorous, incredibly bright and has a great sense of humour. Together with her husband, Steven Pinker, his generation’s most influential cognitive theorist, they form ‘America’s brainiest couple’ according to Salon magazine. Here they discussed Goldstein’s hilarious new novel, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. They explored the mystery of consciousness, the dynamic between reason and emotion and the pettiness of academic ambitions as well as simply tackli...