Today, I spoke with Dr Douglas Fields, who is a neuroscientist and author of numerous books and articles about the brain. We discussed his excellent and important book, Why We Snap: Understanding the Rage Circuit in Your Brain, which focuses on the neuroscience that triggers rage and violence. It turns out, evolution has endowed every single one of us with nine neural pathways that, when activated, will lead to a violent and oftentimes involuntary and non-conscious response. During our chat, Doug explained these circuits—captured in the mnemonic LIFEMORTS—and how they relate to many important issues, including: their applicability to our interpersonal relationships; origins in threat detection; their unconscious nature and subsequent voluntary expression; impact of social media and technology; disproportionate effect of stress; power of genes and the environment; manifestations of violence in different genders; utility in peacebuilding; training of responses; role in PTSD and, perhaps most-importantly, geopolitics and war.
Several previous episodes that link to the topics we discussed include:
Role of the environment:
Geopolitics:
PTSD and trauma
I also mentioned an article I recently published on the state of Western democracy, grey zone warfare by authoritarian states and how social media is contributing to a build-up of tension in our societies. You can view the article here.
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Full show notes:
My guest today is Dr Douglas Fields, who is a neuroscientist and author of numerous books and articles about the brain. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, University of Maryland adjunct professor, and Chief of the Nervous System Development and Plasticity Section at the National Institutes of Health. He received advanced degrees at UC Berkeley, San Jose State University, UC San Diego, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford and Yale University.
He writes about science for Scientific American, Quanta, Outside Magazine, Huffington Post, Undark Magazine, Psychology Today, and similar prestigious outlets. His neuroscience research has been featured on national television, radio, NPR, the National Geographic and others, and he speaks about neuroscience for the general public on mediums like NPR, World Science Festival, TEDex and Google Talks.
He is the author of three books about neuroscience for the general reader, The Other Brain, about glia, which are brain cells that communicate without electricity, Why We Snap, about the neuroscience of rage, and his new award-winning book, Electric Brain, about brainwaves, brain-computer interface, and brain stimulation. Some of the topics we discussed today include:
50. Peter W Singer - On Ukrainian information warfare, social media dominance and the power of narrative
49. Dmytro Gurin - The view from Ukraine
48. MAJGEN Mick Ryan: On the Russian invasion and his recent book ’War Transformed’
47. Arne Dalhaug and Wolfgang Sporrer - On the War in Ukraine
46. Marc Garlasco - War through the eyes of a Pentagon Chief of High Value Targeting
45. Introducing 2022
44. Special Release: Wolfgang Sporrer - Providing Nuance To The Crisis In Ukraine
43. Special Release: Lieutenant General (Ret.) Arne Bård Dalhaug: On the current Russia/Ukraine crisis
42. Special Release: Mark Willacy - On ‘Killing Field‘ and ‘Rogue Forces‘
41. My reflections on the first year of The Voices Of War
40. Samuel Moyn - On ‘Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War‘
39. Toby Harnden - A deep dive into ‘First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11‘
38. Michael Vatikiotis - Southeast Asia and its peculiar role in global politics
36. Arjan Verdooren - ‘Cultures don‘t meet, people do‘
35. John Blaxland and Qinduo Xu - On AUKUS, US/China relations and growing tensions
34. Tom and Jen Satterly - The All Secure Foundation
33. Gregg D. Caruso - On the Illusion of Free Will, Myth of Meritocracy and the need to rethink our Justice Systems
32. Steve Dennis - On getting shot, kidnapped and the court case that sent tremors through the humanitarian aid industry
31. Stephanie Speck - Strategic Communication: A Tool For Change
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