Robert Sapolsky
This Is Your Brain on Nationalism
The Biology of Us and Them
Foreign Affairs, 2019
What's inside?
Humanity is uniquely adaptable, but can people escape their hardwired biases?
Recommendation
Humans’ ability to reason has produced enormous scientific advances and social progress; but this capacity does not prevent irrationality from holding sway. A recent resurgence of nationalism and xenophobia around the globe is a case in point. According to Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, the fact that in-group biases continue to shape the world really should not come as a surprise given the ways the human brain is hardwired. In his article for Foreign Affairs, Sapolsky offers an intriguing neuroscientific perspective on contemporary politics which may challenge your view of human nature.
Summary
About the Author
Robert Sapolsky is Professor of Biology, Neurology, Neurological Sciences and Neurosurgery at Stanford University and the author of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst.
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