If you have watched even just eight minutes of the video, my time so far this time 'round, you may be wondering how is that Haidt says the worst idea we have about ourselves (terrible paraphrase) is the idea that we are born with a blank slate brain.
"Jonathan Haidt: The moral roots of liberals and conservatives"
No, he doesn't say we all feel guilty as an innocent babe of a month, as some believers may think we should think that early. That is, you know, since we are al born sinners which sits uncomfortably (i would imagine) in too many muddled minds. Rather Haidt says psychology and neuroscience tells us nature (evolution) gives us at birth a "first draft" brain. A "first draft" which then is revised by experience. Experience we gain as we learn to live. Genes? Not really. This helps::
Our Brains are Wired for Morality: Evolution, Development, and Neuroscience
Authors and reviewers
Authors Jean Decety Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Chicago, and Director of the Child Neurosuite. My research focuses on the development of moral cognition and behavior in young children, as well as in individuals with psychopathy, a condition associated with poverty in emotional reactions, lack of attachment to others, and a callous disregard for the feelings, rights, and welfare of others. I employ a multi-level perspective, including behavioral economics, genetics, affective neuroscience, developmental science and clinical neuroscience. *decety@uchicago.edu
Jason M. Cowell Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Ripon College (Ripon, WI, USA). I am trained as a developmental neuroscientist and study the development of morality, executive function, and social cognition in infants, toddlers, and children using multiple levels (behavioral, neural, and environmental) across several cultures.
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Abstract
Psychological and neuroscience research both tell us that morality, our mental ability to tell right from wrong in our behaviors and the behaviors of others, is a product of evolution. Morality has been passed on through the course of evolution because it helps us to live in large social groups by enhancing our ability to get along and interact with others. “Building blocks” of morality, such as sensing fairness, experiencing empathy, and judging others’ harmful and helpful actions, can be observed in infancy, before a child’s social environment would be able to have a strong influence. Specific parts of the human brain are involved in moral reasoning – both the kind that happens very quickly and the kind that is thought out. Damage to certain parts of the brain can dramatically alter moral judgment and behavior. Although human morality has been passed down through evolution, it is also dependent on the culture in which we grow up. What humans consider to be moral behavior varies from culture to culture and also varies across time.
Introduction
How do we distinguish good from evil, right from wrong, just from unjust, and vice from virtue? An obvious answer is that we have learned to do so through socialization, that is, our behaviors were shaped from birth onward by our families, our preschools, and almost everything we contacted in our environments. Morality is an inner sense of rightness about our behavior and the behavior of others. How we feel, think, and act about the concepts of “good” and “bad” are all parts of our morality. For example, hitting another person for any reason is seen as bad, while sharing something we like with another child who is sad is considered good. Morality is so deeply rooted in the fabric of our everyday lives that it seems hard to imagine a society without any moral rules. Indeed, observations made by scientists who study different societies around the world have shown that, despite cultural and individual differences, all human beings have some sense of right and wrong.
When we use the word “morality” we are generally talking about ideas of justice, fairness and rights, and the rules we have about how people should treat one another. Consider the following: as a reward for finishing your homework, you have been given 10 marbles that you really like. You are then told about a poor child who would not be able to get any marbles, even though he did his homework too. However, you have the option to give some of your marbles to the poor child. What would you choose to do? Most children would naturally share some of their marbles with a poor child and would also be surprised if another child received more than 10 marbles after doing the same amount of homework! This shows that children understand both fairness and justice. As humans, when we consider how we or others should share something we have been given, we tend to take into account both how much of a reward someone deserves for the “work” they did and whether rewards are evenly split between individuals.
Humans are an extremely social species. We are dependent on each other and cannot survive and flourish without interacting with others. Newborns only survive to adulthood if given enough care, and societies succeed through cooperation. Almost all of our actions and thoughts are about others or are in response to others. We cooperate with and help people who are not related to us at a level that is unmatched in the animal kingdom [1]. Since humans are, by nature, both helpful and selfish, we think that morality evolved to support our helpful social interactions with others and control our somewhat selfish tendencies.
However, it would be misleading to see morality as only a result of evolution. Although some human traits, like skin color, are determined by our genes alone, morality is quite different in that it is also determined both by our nature and the society in which we live. Many moral rules and values vary between different cultures and also change over time. For instance, bull fighting is seen as cruel form of entertainment or even as animal torture in North America and most European countries, but it is still very popular in Spain and Colombia where it is considered a form of expression, despite the obvious suffering of the animals. An example of a shift in morality over time is our attitude toward slavery. Most people in the world today think that it is immoral to own slaves but that was not the case a century ago.
Thus, our morality has been formed over thousands of years from the combination of both our genes and our culture, rather than just one or the other. This genetic and cultural evolution has shaped our brains to care for others, react to those who try to harm us, and to create moral rules that help us to live together successfully [2 .. https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2016.00003#ref2 ].
There are three main lines of evidence that support the view that our brains are wired for morality. (1) The “building blocks” of morality have been observed in non-human animals, (2) even very young babies appear to exhibit some basic moral evaluations .. https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2016.00003#KC1 , and (3) the parts of the brain involved in moral judgments are beginning to be identified.
Building Blocks of Morality in Non-Human Species
Natural observations of animals in the wild and research in laboratories show us that a number of “building blocks” of moral behavior can be found in animals. For instance, many animals exhibit behaviors that benefit other members of their species. Such prosocial behaviors .. https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2016.00003#KC2 .. (meaning behaviors that are good for others), like helping each other and caring for offspring, have been seen in rodents and primates. Rats will help other distressed rats that have been soaked with water, and it will also choose to help a cage mate that is in distress before obtaining a food reward. Chimpanzees will help each other and share with each other, but only when they benefit from the sharing, as long as the costs are minimal and the needs of the other chimpanzees are clear. Chimpanzees also collaborate and form alliances in fights or when hunting. Capuchin monkeys have even been shown to react in a negative way when they see other monkeys being treated unfairly.
Humans often try to comfort or console other humans who have been hurt or are afraid. Chimpanzees will also try to console the “victim” of a fight by grooming, hugging, and kissing. This behavior decreases the level of stress that the victim feels. Helping behaviors have also been demonstrated in mice and rats. Importantly, with both humans and animals, these prosocial behaviors are more likely to be shown toward kin (those related to the animal) and members of the same social groups. These examples illustrate that empathy .. https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2016.00003#KC3 , which is the ability to “feel” another’s emotional state, often leads to prosocial behaviors and is present in many mammals. Empathy does not require conscious thinking or language. Empathy originally evolved to promote parental care for their offspring, but it is now expressed by humans in many different ways and is not restricted to kin .. https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2016.00003#KC4 .
Of course, just because we can observe some buildings blocks of morality in non-human animals does not mean that those animals have the same sense of morality that humans do. But, it strongly suggests that morality is a product of evolution. When behaviors seen in the animal kingdom are similar to behaviors found in humans, it suggests that these behaviors have been selected, because they increase the ability of humans to prosper both as individuals and in the groups in which they live.
Evidence for Moral Behavior in Babies
When we see early signs of morality in young babies, this provides strong evidence for the evolutionary roots of morality, because babies have not yet had much time to be influenced by their environment. Psychologists who study human development have shown that human babies enter the world ready to pay attention and respond to social stimuli, such as voices and faces, and that babies begin forming social relationships during the first year of life. Young children provide comfort and assistance to both other children and adults in emotional distress. For instance, when they see their mothers in pain, 18-month-old toddlers show comforting behaviors (such as hugging, patting, and sharing toys). As infants develop and become more able to analyze what is going on around them, they even have the ability to recognize when a person in their environment is treating another person badly. At a young age, infants are quickly able to figure out whether the consequence of a behavior is good or bad, suggesting that their genes are involved and that experience and learning are not the only causes of moral development. At just 3 months of age, infants spend more time looking at a puppet character that has previously acted in a nice way than at one that acted in a negative way, suggesting that infants prefer those who “do good things.” By 6 months of age, this preference is stronger, with children not only looking more at helpful and nice puppet characters but also actually reaching for them [3 .. https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2016.00003#ref3 ]. By 12 months of age, infants begin to understand the concept of fairness. When these infants witness cookies being shared, they expect an equal number of cookies to be given to all of the people involved.
Taken together, evidence from these laboratory studies tells us that children under the age of 2 have a very good understanding of which actions will benefit others.However, as children get older, the expression of their morality changes. For example, while infants seem to see fairness as equality (everyone should get the same number of cookies, for example), teenagers tend to prefer giving more resources to those who do not have any already or to those who worked harder. Thus, these early tendencies (in infancy) are considered to be the foundation for, but not the exact same as, adult morality. Our concepts of morality are built from the combination of emotions, motivations, and our increasing level of mental understanding as we develop.
Trump vs empathy -- Whose Boat Is This Boat?: Comments That Don't Help in the Aftermath of a Hurricane The Staff of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
'He also shares a moment from an interview on the Trump campaign plane in 2016, when he interrupts Trump watching TV to ask him about expressing empathy. Trump, his face remaining "still and distant as though it were coated in plastic," says that, as president, the quality of empathy "would be one of the most important things about Trump." P - Continuing the quote, Leibovich records the future president saying: "When I'm in that position, when we have horrible hurricanes, all kinds of horrible things happen, you've got to have empathy." P - To which the author adds: "Trump then returned to watching himself on the small screen."" [...] https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=169372426
'Thank You for Your Servitude' casts harsh light on GOP's shift and its motives [...] He also shares a moment from an interview on the Trump campaign plane in 2016, when he interrupts Trump watching TV to ask him about expressing empathy. Trump, his face remaining "still and distant as though it were coated in plastic," says that, as president, the quality of empathy "would be one of the most important things about Trump." P - Continuing the quote, Leibovich records the future president saying: "When I'm in that position, when we have horrible hurricanes, all kinds of horrible things happen, you've got to have empathy." P - To which the author adds: "Trump then returned to watching himself on the small screen." https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=169371214
Interesting stuff/links thanks. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/replies.aspx?msg=169455579 All this separation and comparison of Lib/Con makes me think - what does freedom from it look like. [Democracy Now, The New Republic, Chomsky, R. Brand, J6 Reality T.V., etc,.. lol ?]
Anyhow, work in progress. Took some more time figuring out this Brand character resisting my prejudice against some of the terms used to see if his championing of the "ordinary/common person" is sincere. I liked how he struggles with sounding like a conspiracy theorist, lol. He is a comedian. Sorry for the long post but interested to hear what you think of his NATO vid at the bottom, cheers!..
The revolution that's required isn't a revolution of radical ideas, but the implementation of ideas we already have."[126]
In October 2014, at the time Brand's book Revolution was published, John Lydon (also known as "Johnny Rotten" of the Sex Pistols), in an interview with Polly Toynbee of The Guardian, said that Brand's advocacy of non-voting is "the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard."[128] In a November 2014 YouGov poll, involving a selection of celebrities, Brand was chosen as the one with the most negative influence on political debate (46%). The poll also found that 60% of poll participants disliked him and 28% liked him.[129]
Shortly afterward, Brand appeared on Newsnight again, but was interviewed by Evan Davis on this occasion. Asked about 9/11 conspiracy theories and whether the attacks were perpetuated by the American government, Brand commented: "[w]e have to remain open-minded to [that] kind of possibility",[130][131] although this section of the interview ended with Brand insisting that he did not "want to talk about daft conspiracy theories."[132][133]Hadley Freeman in The Guardian mocked the opinions he expressed in the interview: "I’m not entirely sure where he thinks he’s going to go with this revolution idea because [SPOILER!] revolution is not going to happen."[134]
.. three days before the election, Brand released the final episode of The Trews Politics Week entitled "Emergency: VOTE To Start Revolution"[151] releasing additional material from his discussion with Ed Miliband and stating "I think we've got no choice but to take decisive action to end the danger of the Conservative party".[155] He dropped his anti-voting position and "declared the importance of voting", backing Labour and telling his fans that "You gotta vote Labour", although he admitted "that he couldn't be sure of the reality of what a Labour government would mean".[156][157] Brand was not registered to vote in the 2015 election.[156]
"You know I never actually said 'don't vote'? I said 'There's no point in voting when the main political parties are basically indistinguishable and the relationship between government, big business and factions of the media make it impossible for the democratic will of the people to be realised.'"[160]
Now I'm aware that this [GQ award speech] was really no big deal ... It was a daft joke by a daft comic at a daft event. It makes me wonder, though, how the relationships and power dynamics I witnessed on this relatively inconsequential context are replicated on a more significant scale ... Ought we be concerned that our rights to protest are being continually eroded under the guise of enhancing our safety? ... When you take a breath and look away from the spectacle it's amazing how absurd it seems when you look back.[167]
In September 2021, Brand shared information on how to avoid COVID-19 safety measures for people attending his tour.[168][169] In October 2021, YouTube began reviewing some of Brand's videos to see if they violated the site's COVID-19 vaccine policies.[170] Columnist Charlotte Lytton accused Brand of pandering to the anti-vax movement as well as amplifying pro-Russian conspiracy theories with respect to the Russo-Ukrainian War.[171]Elon Musk defended Brand from media criticism on Twitter, saying "With so many mainstream media companies saying @rustyrockets is crazy/dangerous, I watched some of his videos. Ironically, he seemed more balanced & insightful than those condemning him! The groupthink among major media companies is more troubling. There should be more dissent."[172]
In 2022, Brand discussed the World Health Organization's meetings on the pandemic treaty and said, “I’ll tell you what’s up… Your democracy is fucking finished,” and that future people would say we "lapsed a terrible technocratic, globalist agenda."[173]
Days after his divorce was finalised, Brand said in an interview with Howard Stern that he was extremely in love with Perry, but after marrying her realised "this isn't really working out ... I was really, really in love with her, but it was difficult to see each other ... it mostly didn't work for practical reasons."[198] While Stern pressed for details, Brand declined, saying: "I don't want anything to hurt her. She's younger than me, she's a young woman and she's beautiful and she's sensitive and I care about her deeply."[198] Brand, who married Perry without a prenuptial agreement, was eligible to claim half of the estimated $44 million she earned during their marriage, but declined.[199]
Political activism2009–2012: Early interventions Street art by unknown artist on Hackney Street, London In January 2009, Brand participated in a celebrity letter to The Independent—as a supporter of the Hoping Foundation—to condemn Israel's assault on Gaza, and the "cruel and massive loss of life of the citizens of Gaza".[105] In February 2009, Brand and several other entertainers wrote to The Times in defence of leaders of the Bahá'í Faith, who were on trial in Iran at the time.[106] In April 2009, he attended the 2009 G-20 London summit protests and spoke to the press.[107]
Brand was selected by the Dalai Lama to host the Buddhist leader's 2012 youth event in Manchester. The Dalai Lama's representatives explained that Brand was selected because he had proved "the power of spirituality to effect change in his own life", while Brand stated to the BBC after the event: "I said yes because he's the living incarnation of Buddha and I thought, if you're around the Dalai Lama, that can only be good for your spiritual quest through life. He's an amazing diplomat, an incredible activist, a wonderful human being and an inspiration to us all."[108]
In April 2012, Brand testified in front of a parliamentary committee about drug addiction, sharing his experiences and view that drugs should be decriminalised. He said, "I'm not a legal expert. I'm saying that, to a drug addict, the legal aspect is irrelevant. If you need to get drugs, you will. The criminal and legal status, I think, sends the wrong message. Being arrested isn't a lesson, it's just an administrative blip."[109] Part of this testimony was included in a BBC Three documentary, Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery, that aired in December 2012. Brand said he felt compelled to make the film after the 2011 death of close friend Amy Winehouse, and he also used the opportunity to question how British society "deals with addicts and addiction."[110]
Other journalism and commentary In November 2020, Maté said that the appointment of Antony Blinken as Secretary of State and the possible nomination of Michèle Flournoy as Defense Secretary, showed that President-electJoe Biden was "continuing with the hawkish playbook" he had followed throughout his career.[35]
In February 2021, Maté was the first to report that Amnesty International had removed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny's status as a prisoner of conscience "given the fact that he advocated violence and discrimination and has not yet retracted such statements".[2][36][37][38] Oliver Carroll wrote in The Independent that The Grayzone had "amplified" criticism of Navalny and "appears to have been privy to lobbying around the Amnesty decision".[36] Amnesty reversed its decision in May, issuing the following statement: "We recognise that an individual's opinions and behaviour may evolve over time. It is part of Amnesty's mission to encourage people to positively embrace a human rights vision and to not suggest that they are forever trapped by their past conduct. Some of Navalny's previous statements are reprehensible and we do not condone them in the slightest. By confirming Navalny's status as prisoner of conscience, we are not endorsing his political programme, but are highlighting the urgent need for his rights, including access to independent medical care, to be recognised and acted upon by the Russian authorities".[39]
Maté was critical of President Biden's response to Israel's attack on Gaza in May 2021. Maté said Biden's telephone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Biden expressed his "unwavering support" for Israel's "right to defend itself", was "a green light for Netanyahu to continue massacring Palestinian civilians".[40]
Awards Maté earned an Izzy Award in April 2019 for his work challenging press coverage of special prosecutor Robert Mueller's investigation.[14][15][16][18]
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