Humans, Good and Evil

The feature article by Jeffrey Kluger, "What Makes Us Good/Evil," for the December 3, 2007 issue of Time magazine is about the relationship of good and evil to neural circuitry in the brain. The subheading reads, "Humans are the planet's most noble creatures--and its most savage. Science is discovering why."

I find the progress that research makes interesting. For example, researches are discovering the locations in the brain that are associated with empathy as well as the areas involved in moral reasoning. Kluger notes that humans have difficulty with "the other." Those whom we do not consider "us" can quickly be the targets for inhuman behavior. The blood soaked 20th century is evidence enough to demonstrate that.

However, I find the notion that the "cure" for human immorality lies in understanding and manipulating the neural circuitry in the brain a step into fantasyland. Kluger concludes the article by saying,

For grossly imperfect creatures like us, morality may be the steepest of all developmental mountains. Our opposable thumbs and big brains gave us the tools to dominate the planet, but wisdom comes more slowly than physical hardware. We surely have a lot of killing and savagery ahead of us beforewe fully civilize ourselves.The hope--a realistic one, perhaps--is that the struggles still to come are fewer than those left behind.

I hope that we keep making progress in understanding the brain, but I think our hope for becoming better lies in a different direction.