Quote:
Originally Posted by annoyedgrunt84
I think Sam Harris is wrong and here’s why. I read a story recently about a neuroscientist who had on his desk the brain scans of people who had been, or currently were, in prison for murder. To his shock he discovered that he had mixed his own scan in with those of the murderers. His brain lit up just like that of a psychopath but he had never killed anyone. His family said that they always thought of him as somewhat cold and distant, maybe even manipulative, but he had never killed anyone. So it seems that it is a perfect storm of nature and nurture that turns someone violent.
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I don't think Harris's comment negates that. Our brains develop via combination of nature and nurture. Brain function and behavior can't all be determined or predicted by a scan. It's too complicated. Any good neuroscientist will admit that they have not even come close to fully understanding how our brains actually work. And yes, not all psychopaths kill people. Some are doctors, CEOs etc. And not all murderers are psychopaths.
That was just one line from Harris I appreciated because I felt he was trying to say we should be careful when we judge people because if our brains functioned differently (for any reason), we could be doing very bad things too. That said, he says a lot of things on other topics that I don't agree with.
I think though there's probably a recurring problem with frontal lobe dysfunction/impaired impulse control among most (if not all?) violent offenders. That doesn't mean it was there since birth. Their brains developed in response to highly stressful environments. It has taken people a long time to realize that folks living in ghettos are probably all living with PTSD. Seems obvious but wasn't even considered for a long time. Look at what's happening in Chicago. I've met parents who used to live there: "
Best I could do was get us out...else I'd have to watch my kids pick a gang...kill or be killed." Geto Boys/ 'Mind playing tricks on me' is one of the best portrayals of PTSD that I've ever heard. I live with PTSD myself. I grew up in a war zone in another country. I left a long time ago and found somewhere safe to live. Who knows what my life would look like now if I'd never changed my environment and never had therapy.
I heard of a new study indicating that living in a racist society causes chronic inflammation in the bodies of African Americans. Somewhat off-topic but just mentioning how environment can actually alter physiology.