Ghost in the machine

What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals. And yet…

And yet.

Ay, there’s the rub. This angelic being is also capable of the most despicable acts imaginable.

How can both things be true? I’ve been fascinated and troubled by that question since I first learned about the Holocaust as a child.

I’m David Baird, Managing Editor of HumanNatureNews.com. Ghost in the machine is the newsletter of that website. I’m also professor of Environmental Sciences at IES Abroad (Institute for the International Education of Students), and of Science and Technology at La Salle, Ramón Llull University, here in Barcelona. My Ph.D. is in Evolutionary Biology.

Every week, Ghost in the machine brings you a roundup of the latest research news across the incredibly broad range of disciplines contributing to human nature research. Ghost in the machine provides you with an easily digestible view of the state of the science across the board. And you can drill down deep on issues that interest you.

Our community combines interested lay readers, professional scientists, writers and journalists, and other informed practitioners.

The definition of science I use is broad and practical. Professional, rational inquiry. Primarily, but not exclusively, that means academia and closely related sources.

My filter is to highlight significant new findings. Things that people working in unrelated fields would want to know about. Things that will change your view of humanity.

Science is the most successful route to knowledge yet devised. But until recently, scientists have been reluctant to turn that tool inward and study ourselves. Just ask Galileo and Copernicus why!

But scientists are now addressing the big questions that were previously reserved for theology and philosophy. What is consciousness? Where does morality come from? How can humans embody such heights of selflessness and depths of depravity, often in the same individual?

If you’re interested in the human animal, it’s a great time to be alive. Join us in our quest for enlightenment!