# When Everyone Stops Pretending w/ Steven Pinker (Episode #557)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fifth-column-1025117/when-everyone-stops-pretending-w-steven-pinker-episode-557
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fifth-column-1025117/when-everyone-stops-pretending-w-steven-pinker-episode-557.md
Podcast: [The Fifth Column](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fifth-column-1025117)
Published: 2026-05-14T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.wethefifth.com/p/when-everyone-stops-pretending-w
Audio file: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/api.substack.com/feed/podcast/197583431/ac2957858fd13404aa66c3cef70c3818.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-fifth-column-1025117/episodes/when-everyone-stops-pretending-w-steven-pinker-episode-557
Duration seconds: 6312

## Resource

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wethefifth.com/subscribe - Steven Pinker on why “common knowledge” is much stranger than it sounds -The social machinery behind weddings, money, and power -How a norm starts to die once someone breaks it and gets rewarded -Trump as the great destroyer of polite restraints -The institutions that lost the authority to enforce trust -How new taboos appear without anyone admitting who created them -T…

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## Transcript

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