BRAINSTORMING: HOW THE BRAIN SCIENCES CAN INFORM SOCIAL JUSTICE STRATEGIES by MARC ANDREW BRILLINGER A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Doctor of Philosophy in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) November 2014 © Marc Andrew Brillinger, 2014 Abstract Anthropogenic climate disruption (global warming) and income inequality are in the process of spiraling out of control, pushing humanity to the brink of global collapse and mass extinction of species. Underlying this profound issue is an epic struggle taking place between two alternate worldviews. Corporate institutional power has morphed economics, capitalism and the ―free market‖ into a suicide machine that increasingly extracts, exploits and selfishly hordes the bulk of the world‘s wealth for the few. The obscene wealth and power of the plutocrats and oligarchs has rigged both economics and politics to benefit the one percent and destroy the environment. Alternately, social justice led by activists have made valiant attempts to slow down this process and regain some sanity with a return to community, sociality and cooperation. A world worth living in hangs precariously in the balance. This interdisciplinary research focuses on the critical, yet unexplored, intersection of social justice and the burgeoning brain sciences. The ―brain sciences‖ refers to the rapidly increasing interdisciplinary understanding (from neuroscience, biology, social sciences etc.) of the human brain, mind, consciousness and their relationship to institutions, cultures, society and human belief and behaviour. A synthesis of the knowledge arising out of the brain sciences, as it applies to existing social activist strategies and tactics, now seems a necessity in the attempt to restrain corporate institutional power that is currently running amok in North America and globally. Extensive interviews with fifteen North American activists on the current state of social justice movements and their understandings of the brain sciences comprised the core of the research. Using grounded theory methodology, initial analysis confirmed that corporate institutional power was the roadblock, obfuscating any positive social change on both anthropogenic climate disruption and income inequality. Deeper analysis of the data, along with the integration of the brain sciences, resulted in a specific strategic recommendation: A global mythology for the 21stcentury, cognizant of the science of our time and powered by moral outrage, has to ―culturally evolve‖ and spread around the world inhabiting many minds in many places enabling a global cultural environment that nurtures connection, cooperation, cognition and childhood. We can be magnificent, together. ii Preface The research study upon which this dissertation was based was approved by the University of British Columbia Okanagan Behavioural Research Ethics Board on January 17, 2013. The UBC BREB number is H12-02634. iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... ii Preface ................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. iv Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1. The Brain Sciences: A Literature Review .......................................................................... 6 The Brain and Its Discontents ......................................................................................... 7 Brains ...................................................................................................................... 12 Minds and Consciousness ...................................................................................... 14 Consciousness ................................................................................................. 15 The Nature of Consciousness .......................................................................... 16 Cognitive and Emotional – Controlled and Automatic .......................................... 17 Automatic Processes and Zombie Programs ................................................... 18 Somatic Marker Hypothesis ............................................................................ 20 Reason and the Doctrine of Concordance ....................................................... 22 Perception, Memory and Belief .............................................................................. 23 Perception ........................................................................................................ 23 Memory ........................................................................................................... 25 Malleability ..................................................................................................... 27 Belief ............................................................................................................... 29 Time to Think ......................................................................................................... 32 The Evolutionary Brain ................................................................................................. 36 Evolution As a Guide ............................................................................................. 36 Evolution – 3.8 billion to 50,000 years ago ........................................................... 39 Evolution, Brains, Minds and Consciousness ................................................. 41 Evolution, Environment and Adaptation ......................................................... 42 Genes ...................................................................................................................... 43 Genes and Brains ............................................................................................. 45 Genotypes, Phenotypes and Heritability ......................................................... 45 Environment and Behaviour ............................................................................ 46 Cultural Evolution - 150,000 years ago to today .................................................... 49 iv Culture ............................................................................................................. 49 Social Learning ............................................................................................... 50 Cultural Evolution 1 – ImitateInnovate – (1)50,000 to 50 years ago ........................ 53 Brains and Cultural Evolution ......................................................................... 55 Cultural Evolution 2—copyfollow —50 years ago to present/future ........................ 57 Changing Environments, Maladaptive Brains and Destructive Minds .................. 60 Horrible Environments make for Horrible Minds ........................................... 63 Time to Change ...................................................................................................... 64 Did Anyone See the Elephant? Free Will and The Self: Elusive and Illusory ............. 66 2. Memes, Vemes, Myth, and the Power of Story (Culture) ............................................... 70 Memes Are Us, We Are Our Memes ..................................................................... 70 The Dilemma ................................................................................................................. 72 Anthropogenic Climate Disruption (Climate Change/Global Warming) ............... 73 Economics .............................................................................................................. 75 Institutions, Culture and Risk ........................................................................................ 81 Institutional Power Failures: Economics/Politics ................................................... 82 Culture and Risk ..................................................................................................... 83 Group Minds and Institutions ................................................................................. 84 The Mind/Brain ...................................................................................................... 88 Values, Ethics and Morals (The Science of Morality) .................................................. 92 The High Stakes of Moral Disagreements (meme/veme Wars) ............................. 95 The New Science of Morality ................................................................................ 97 Morality in the 21stcentury .............................................................................. 98 Morality, Human Flourishing and Human Well-Being .......................................... 99 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ....................................................................................... 102 Memes, Vemes and Social Change ...................................................................... 103 The Promise and Power of Myth (Stories and Narrative) ........................................... 106 21st century Myth .................................................................................................. 107 Myth and Science ................................................................................................