'Root of all evil' found in the brain by scientists

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/12186450/Root-of-all-evil-found-in-the-brain-by-scientists.html/

By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
4:27PM GMT 07 Mar 2016

The part of the brain which switches on before aggressive behaviour is anatomically known as the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus.

The ‘root of all evil’ has been discovered by scientists who found that a distinct part of the brain fires up before premeditated nefarious acts are carried out.

Researchers were keen find out if bad intentions could be seen forming in the brain before any violence or aggression actually took place.

They found that the a distinct part of the hypothalamus - the brain region that controls body temperature, hunger and sleep - is activated shortly before an attack.

"It should be studied further as part of future efforts seeking to correct behaviours from bullying to sexual predation"
Dr Dayu Lin, NYU Langone

The study authors from New York University say it may be possible to spot early warning signs of premeditated violence, stalking, bullying, and even sexual aggression, and prevent it for ever occurring.

"Our study pinpoints the brain circuits essential to the aggressive motivations that build up as animals prepare to attack," says study senior investigator Dr Dayu Lin, an assistant professor at the Neuroscience Institute at NYU Langone.

The part of the brain which switches on before aggressive behaviour is anatomically known as the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus, or VMHvl, because of its central location inside the brain on the underside of the hypothalamus.

Researchers say that the finding could lead to drugs which would help people control violent behaviour, without the need for restraints or sedation. It might even be possible to continually monitor brain activity and alert health experts or the security services before an aggressive attack, such as in Philip K Dick's dystiopian novella Minority Report.

Tom Cruise in Minority ReportTom Cruise in the film of Minority Report

But the work is likely to prove controversial as drugs to prevent aggression or monitoring might be seen as preventing free will which would raise ethical concerns.

Dr Lin said targeting this part of the human brain with to curb aggression remains "only a distant possibility, even if related ethical and legal issues could be resolved.”

"That said, our results argue that the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus should be studied further as part of future efforts seeking to correct behaviours from bullying to sexual predation,” she added.

For the current study, male mice were trained to attack weaker male mice and then monitored to see how aggressively they tried to gain access to, and bully, another mouse.

One measure used to gauge aggression was counting the number of attempts made by mice to wiggle through small holes that led to another mouse, which they could then attack.

The mice were fitted with probes which measured nerve activity before, during and after they planned the attack.

The hypothalamus contains the part of the brain which lights up before aggressive behaviourThe hypothalamus contains the part of the brain which lights up before aggressive behaviour

The researchers found that nerve cell activity in the VMHvl routinely peaked just before mice began to hole poke, even when the aggressive mice could not yet smell or see their target.

Nerve cell activity in the VMHvl also increased by as much as tenfold during the initial seconds after the weaker target mice appeared. However genetically stopping VMHvl activity ceased the aggressive mice to stop attacking the weaker mice.

The researchers say it is possible that the region is linked to reward centres of the brain which make an attack seem more desirable and may promote a flow of endorphins. Previous studies have shown that before a fight, dopamine levels rise in the brain and remain elevated after an attack has ended, lessoning pain and increasing adrenaline.

Writing in Nature Neuroscience first author Dr Annegret Falkner said: “In many vertebrate species, certain individuals will seek out opportunities for aggression, even in the absence of threat-provoking cues.

“Although several brain areas have been implicated in the generation of attack in response to social threat, little is known about the neural mechanisms that promote self-initiated or ‘voluntary’ aggression-seeking when no threat is present.

“We found that the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl), an area with a known role in attack, was essential for aggression-seeking.

“Inactivation of the VMHvl reduced aggression-seeking behaviour, whereas stimulation of the VMHvl accelerated moment-to-moment aggression-seeking and intensified future attack.”

Soma?
Brave New World?

mice "planned" an attack?

Sounded like Nurse Ratched is at work.

The link page is deleted!!

'Aggression' is a 2 way street.
Quite valuable when circumstances would otherwise force a man to give up.

By the way, Mighty Moe, that's a handsome cat you got.
weird, similarities though.

Scientists Map Roots of Premeditated, Violent "Intent" in Animal Brain

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/649174/?sc=rsmn/
------------
Science

Getting to the root of evil: Scientists pinpoint the source of violence in the brain and could use it to PREDICT when someone is going to be aggressive

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3480574/Getting-root-evil-Scientists-pinpoint-source-violence-brain-use-PREDICT-going-violent.html/
---------------
Neurology / Neuroscience

Brain region responsible for violence identified

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/307517.php/

thanks Sassy.

2 of 3 links working.

strangely the links reminded of 'mice n men'

i don't think we need to fear evil
a bully is generally scared by a bigger bully.
Tony Blair, George Bush = Iraq war

it's stupidity that's real scary.
the non-negotiable kind.
Tony Blair, George Bush = Iraq war

Ted Cruz to prove himself; Hillary under pressure..
cut from the same cloth.

yeah happens sometimes; i seem to have learnt something these days

Of course with Bill on her side you people will have 2 for 1

Gggruu.. This link issue is so annoying. I may get violent & throw my phone

Back on topic:
As fascinating as it is to read.
And I do think brain chemistry plays a part. I am much more of a 'behaviorist' & believe the clique,
" Children learn what they live ".

' Learned behavior',
'Outside stimulus', (war)
'Negative Input ', ( TV & all media,)
" Anthropology " ( Culture, Religion, Rituals, Customs)
" Maturity " (self control)

And I don't want to make any excuses for violence. Or to interfere with justice & people not excepting responsibility for their actions.

Just not comfortable with all this, & not really buying it all.

Actually was quite surprised to read on one of the links:



i think he's from UK, spelt socialization with an s.
"He talks about thousands of men and women not reaching this stage"
i was not so sure about that and then came your encapsulation



being new to behavioral science this sort of categorization helps.
which then brings us to 'maturity'

but at the risk of getting hammered down by my A. friends
i would like to take this discussion to current practical examples.

Ex. 1 A person can be a master in a field & quite naive in another
for instance i read about Dr. Carson being a specialist in
separating co-joined twins
He radiates impeccable ethics; a person anybody would trust
but in a political world being good is not enough

Note: you see the interesting thing about the Republican debate is / was the world got an intimate understanding of a spectrum of Americans
and can compare them with their own politicians:
know where our leaders are; so to speak

Ex.2: What i'm attempting to say is at some moral level & i'm not
interested if Hillary lied, etc.; but her campaign is sort of
'greed'. I don't hate women. I wouldn't make any comments on
Ms. Palin, Ms. Rice or Ms Albright - each make impression.

Ex. 3: My point is in today's world we do need a person experienced in evil only then he can handle evil & so Mr. T.

one thing i notice about Mr. T is willing to learn &
he is accountable;
has the wisdom to be accountable in world finance & affairs
all big hallmarks for a leader of the most power nation

he may throw out a few Indians; no problem
that's not evil; just business.

back to topic: evil learns; is intelligent & improves

but when ambition spills over to greed don't know what to call it
seriously neurotically evil or plain 'stpd'. <<shudder>>

from what i understand, Indians in US vote liberal
that's narrow.

sorry if your post got messed from science to politics
but end-of-day both are our life.

Back to topic:

is there anything about 'brain freeze'?

We read about how teenage brains reorganize by 21 to 'mature' brains
and then people don't appear to change much from that point...

there's some article on brain plasticity in older people
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/iage/201304/brain-plasticity-in-older-adults

its about how taxi drivers in UK learning road maps leading to
added neural capacity..

and we do realize that elders have a refined social / emotional
behavior.

Question is any deeper changes; like in attitude
due from increased maturity or so?

If I were to consider 'that' as a 'paradigm' (which I'm 'not' claiming I 'am') I'd infer that Science Is Evil. IMO 'Science' was never 'Evil'. 'Application' of 'Science' may not have been 'noble' always. In other words, it's the 'application' (rather than the 'subject'), that may be categorized as 'Evil' or otherwise.



In similar terms, 'brain' is simply 'brain' - the 'primary' organ (other than 'heart') for a 'normal' living. 'Application' of the brain, is what we term as 'Evil' or 'Noble'.


Reminds me of 'someone' once telling me: 'Devious means can only be devised by people who are brainy/intelligent. Ones possessing 'low' IQ are incapable of committing 'Evil'!' Seemingly, a 'flawless' observation of the human mind.



One small point: Although, 'root of all Evil is the brain', 'root of all noble deeds (too), is the brain.' People might say, that it's the 'humanity' factor of the human heart, which enables a human being, to do something 'commendable'. However, I may add that 'along with such an attribute', one needs a 'Beautiful Mind' (too) to perform (and achieve) something 'noble' and 'selfless', in the real sense!









Probably, this thread didn't 'solicit' my opinion. However, I felt like sharing. Thank you 'Sassy'. Stay safe. Keep smiling.

I find this an attack on actual intellect which seems to be so rare know a days. This sounds more like a promotion for the next pill or slave tool. I love how the topics of emotional environmental circumstances and moral or lack of moral input is scarcely touched on this subject as we from day one are undeniably one of the fastest learning and most absorbent creations up to 5 years of age and become creations of our own environments. It is like saying forget about actual reality and only focus on the circumstances of this current reality which was not produced by any type of simple reasoning. The biggest atrocity in this is that for the most part people today eat what they are feed and with out a question in most cases regardless of maturity. Then there are the umbrella terms and philosophies that catch the less than clever amongst us. We are living in our most devolved state as a zombie race. Where a horde of people pluck a baby dolphin out of the water to pass it around and take selfies until it dies from heat exhaustion then they just leave it on the beach. In this scenario there was no premeditated aggression of any sort but it is still a behavioral dysfunction. We need solutions not creative ignorance that has only been temporarily patched together to support someone else's gain either in the atmospheres of society or wealth.

I was waiting for somethings on 'maturity' and now Mr. Fearless has stepped in & has touched some of the voiceless thoughts i have been sensing.

Here are the 10 elements filtered outside of his powerful rhetoric. Worth a re-read since it touched a few nerves although bit late in my life.



Point 2: media feed - interesting cause media is owned by some 10 corporates in US & there are commercial ties with Indian media if not some cross shareholding.

quoting from an earlier post by Fearless



Seems like it's happening in India with the so called intellectuals
(generally leftists) eroding into our vast low income middle class
There is an attempt to break down a semi-monastic pilgrimage cause
women are not allowed - & some women lawyers have taken it to the
Supreme Court here citing violation of 'equal rights'



i just couldn't agree more. I don't want to blame psychologists but if we look up historical process:
a) religion being eroded: so what happens to religious values?
b) a vacuum is created - Disney (as an icon) feeds in

and c) in this prevailing vacuum inept psychologists legitimize
for what seems to them trivial adolescent behavior - give a quick fix.

I mean, psychologists & scientists studying mice transfer behavior to men in place of original thinkers & saints
and turning us all 2 legged mice. Gruesome

Point 5: Knowledge Discontinuity:


Point 6: Metamorphosis of Media as a toll for manipulation


Point 7: Politicians today are career politicians not patriots


In India, our one & only real problem is population growth. No politician or government wants to get in & handle this.

Point 8: Some of us are Jesters

don't quite agree; jesters are like tea break; adds value differently

Point 9: Duties from an implicit goal


Point 10: Meaningless life


Well Mr. Fearless, i don't know whether you will get lucky with the chocolate girls but what you have written is among the best in Mingle these recent days.

thank you for bringing a tough subject to fruit.

Yes, I agree complete. Tha dolphing example is very good to show human race is still a primitive and stupid non evolutioned one, even when in our vrain there is no violent signals. Ignorance and lack of conciousnees, ina zombi life is the most dangerous thing for our planet.

Malarkey,look at the Individual,NOT at the collective Masses!
If all fails,go live with the Dolphins?

Maybe he never considered the Koran in his study's.

interesting turn in thread; is valid to an extent.



translation: while in a group, 'something else' happens: 'swayed by the group'; a weak collective intelligence... where - the easiest
path wins the day.

Depends really! Science creates Gunpowder but did they create it with the intent to end lives? There are likely good scientists and bad scientists. Science on its own can not create Gunpowder, that comes about with knowledge and then science can not create a gun to fire projectiles to kill people that comes down to those people that mass produce these weapons. Weapons designed for one thing, to kill or injure people.

Weapons are great as a defensive measure but again this comes down to who possess the weapon, which basically relates to the idea that we could have a world like minority report whereby we could prevent acts of violence, terrorism, rapes, murders and so on. However again this could be used for evil. In the hands of terrorists lets say. My thought is that a chemical bomb could be made and dropped in an army base and then stormed by terrorists in gas masks that wipe out our forces and take control.

So somehow controlled science is what we need. We don't want to get to a point that everything we create for good is used against us. Somehow we should go about inventing and creating things and then make sure that no one outside of our countries can get hold of it or replicate it.

The other issue of course with many factors involving science these days is the idea of playing God! For religious and Ethical reasons Science is being held back and preventing us from playing with what Nature has provided, preventing us from making a better us, which would also likely be used for evil by some. So many people out there that want control, power, money and is all the cause of greed, this might be want science should address.

I think that the root of evil, in each individual starts with a thought. The thought is constructed from two main sources, Media and other individuals. The idea is also enforced with media by reporting that this has been done before and by individuals who have done it or seen it done before and talking about it. The classic monkey see, monkey do scenario. Without moral support the thought will turn to action. Without consequence it becomes a way of life.

There are no Evil Thoughts Mister Rearden,there is only the Refusal to Think!

Francisco Domingo Carlos Andres Sebastián d'Anconia