|
The Lucifer Principle is a revolutionary
work that explores the intricate relationships between genetics,
human behavior, and culture to put forth the thesis that
"evil" is a by-product of nature's strategies
for creation and that it is woven into our most basic biological
fabric.
In a sweeping narrative that moves lucidly
among sophisticated scientific disciplines and covers the
entire span of the earth's, as well as mankind's, history,
Howard Bloom challenges some of our most popular scientific
assumptions. Drawing on evidence from studies of the most
primitive organisms to those on ants, apes, and humankind,
the author makes a persuasive case that it is the group,
or "superorganism," rather than the lone individual
that really matters in the evolutionary struggle. But, Bloom
asserts, the prominence of society and culture does not
necessarily mitigate against our most violent, aggressive
instincts. In fact, under the right circumstances the mentality
of the group will only amplify our most primitive and deadly
urges.
In Bloom's most daring contention he draws
an analogy between the biological material whose primordial
multiplication began life on earth and the ideas, or "memes,"
that define, give cohesion to, and justify human superorganisms.
Some of the most familiar memes are utopian in nature --
Christianity or Marxism; nonetheless, these are fueled by
the biological impulse to climb to the top of the hierarchy.
With the meme's insatiable hunger to enlarge itself, we
have a precise prescription for war.
Biology is not destiny; but human culture
is not always the buffer to our more primitive instincts
we would like to think it is. In these complex threads of
thought lies the Lucifer Principle, and only through understanding
its mandates will we be able to avoid the nuclear crusades
that await us in the twenty-first century.
Howard Bloom has done cancer research
at Roswell Park Memorial Cancer Research Institute and research
on programmed learning at Rutgers University's Graduate
School of Education. He is a member of the New York Academy
of Science, the American Psychological Society, and the
Academy of Political Science. He has published extensively
in periodicals ranging from Omni and the Village
Voice to the Independent Scholar. He lives in
Brooklyn, New York.
|
