Re: "Found: the human brain's moral engine"

George K. Cunningham (gkc who-is-at louisville.edu)
Mon, 25 Oct 1999 18:52:46 -0400

This has the look and sound of a wonderful urban legend. Occasionally, of
course, urban legends turn out to be true.

George K. Cunningham
University of Louisville
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Graham <pw.graham who-is-at student.qut.edu.au>
To: serpell robert n. <serpell who-is-at umbc.edu>
Cc: <xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 25, 1999 8:43 AM
Subject: Re: "Found: the human brain's moral engine"

> Hi,
> At 13:10 24-10-99 -0400, serpell robert n. wrote:
> >This was indeed a stupefying posting on the web.
>
> That's quite a reputable newspaper here.
>
> >I have come across Damasio before making extravagant claims in a neatly
> >documented wide-readership article.
>
> Yes ... based on an enormous sample of two, with very "normal"
backgrounds.
> Very convincing.
>
> >The biologization of "scientific" psychology becomes that much scarier
> >when it purports to have such direct application, doesn't it ?
>
> Especially when it's based on such narrow normative models of behaviour.
>
> >It is reminiscent of the racist biological determinism of early research
> >on group differences in intelligence.
>
> There is a genetic engineering group forming at the moment. It's being
> funded by some of the richest people in the world, as well as a bunch of
> international fora. A colleague attended a meeting with them. They have
> three main objectives to work on:
>
> 1. To "engineer out" the sex urge.
>
> 2. To "engineer out" "intelligence deficiencies" which they consider to be
> inherent in specific races (no points for guessing which ones).
>
> 3. To "engineer out" "intelligence differences" between men and women. Of
> course, women are considered to be less intelligent than men.
>
> I cannot emphasise the degree of seriousness with which this neo-eugenics
> is being undertaken, even though I may sound like a raving, paranoid
lunatic.
>
> >How does one make a wise determination on which targets to accord the
time
> >of day ? Should one, for instance, spend time reading Jensen's new book
> >for the sake of inserting a paragraph in the litany of peer reactions in
> >BBS ? What kind of counter-evidence or reasoning would carry any weight
in
> >the fora that acclaim such work ?
>
> The kind of mind that can presume to argue that, since someone was
> well-educated, middle-class, and brought up in a stable home, they could
> not be capable of telling lies or of stealing or of not feeling remorse
for
> doing so, is unlikely to be dissuaded by what many people would consider
to
> be rational arguments; they would be considered as irrational.
>
> This is not an isolated incident. It pervades a lot of the biotechnology
> lit. The whole "competition" paradigm is inherently eugenic (so it's not
> surprising that we're seeing a repeat of the discourses of a century ago).
> These people think they're doing good things. Someone in Britain has begun
> selling ova from models to ensure that people get 'perfect' looking
babies.
> I'll pass on the web address which as at work. I think the site is called
> "Bob's Bunnies".
>
> Phil
>
>
> Phil Graham
> p.graham who-is-at qut.edu.au
> http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/8314/index.html
>