The Lucifer Principle A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History (Audible Audio Edition) Howard Bloom Malcolm Hillgartner Inc Blackstone Audio Books
Download As PDF : The Lucifer Principle A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History (Audible Audio Edition) Howard Bloom Malcolm Hillgartner Inc Blackstone Audio Books
The Lucifer Priciple is a revolutionary work that explores the intricate relationships among genetics, human behavior, and culture to put forth the thesis that "evil" is a by-product of nature's strategies for creation and that it is woven into our most basic biological fabric. Though this argument is not a new one - it has been brought forth by such great historical figures as St. Paul, Thomas Hobbes, and Raymond Dart - Howard Bloom here takes fresh data from a variety of sources and shapes it into a lens through which listeners can reinterpret the human experience.
The Lucifer Principle A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History (Audible Audio Edition) Howard Bloom Malcolm Hillgartner Inc Blackstone Audio Books
Howard Bloom's primary thesis is that evolution of the genome is now only one factor. Evolution of the cultural meme, and interactions among the superorganisms that follow and support this meme are huge contributors to human evolution, as we can see today with the interactions between Islam and western culture. Furthermore, attributes we usually decry such as pecking order, extreme cruelty to "other" who are not our meme-brothers, and violence are endemic to all life, from ants to primates. Women are not exempt at all. Females are just as violent as males, but in a different way.These Luciferian traits are the knives that carve and shape human and non-humans alike, just as the sculptor chisels away marble to reveal the figure underneath.
Bloom's reference materials are as interesting as his thesis, and he provides plenty of relevant references.
Personally, I thin he is ignoring the fastest growing and most dominant feature of human society - technology. Our tech genome is larger and evolves faster that the culture does. I ripple from discovery to invention to implementation in a fraction of a generation, and changes the way we live, the way we think and the way we consider ourselves in relation to others and the universe at large. Consider these: atomic weapons, airplanes, computers, the Web, robots, artificial intelligence, portable energy sources, living on Mars. Their effects are profound. Every meme will bend.
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The Lucifer Principle A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History (Audible Audio Edition) Howard Bloom Malcolm Hillgartner Inc Blackstone Audio Books Reviews
This book has changed my entire world view. I don't agree with all of it and some of the examples cited to support the author's hypothesis are a little thin, but the overall premise is very well argued. How I wish world leaders and policy-makers would read this book. I think it would improve geo-politics enormously.
Wish I had read this years ago. It’s great to listen to on audiobook as well. Highly recommend this book!
Reading the widely divergent views expressed about this book makes me smile. Is Bloom completely correct? No. But neither is any other author I have read. Is he all washed up and shallow? Not unless his style offends you so you reject everything he has to say from the outset. He can a bit harsh on his views on religion and I know of many people who would 'throw the baby out with the bath' due to this. Some of the 1 star reviews below probably bubbled up from this well. And some admit to never having read the book! So from the outset I would say, read it and make up your own mind.
My recommendation of 5 stars is because Bloom forces you to think. You may not agree with him, and you may certainly disagree with some of his more forcefully stated conclusions about some groups, but if you are open enough to listen to some arguments which challenge most of what we have been brought up to believe (and therefore becomes what filters what we read), reading this will give you plenty to think about. Personally, I enjoy being forced to think and look at the world in ways that are different and challenging, even if I wind up rejecting their positions. In this, Bloom succeeds wonderfully. Just the vociferousness of some of the reviews below show that, if nothing else, he forced people to think, even if they rejected his views. Just be aware that he sometimes allows his opinions on some things become so strongly stated that if you are a member of the particular group he is lambasting, you may well be offended. Then again, sometimes it is hard to see or admit to the truth when `inside' the group.
On that front, some reviewers comment on his offensive references to Muslims and Indians, although I find him is equally harsh on fundamentalists of all stripes, including Christians. I extrapolate Bloom's thesis to essentially warn all of us that ANY group's ideals which help it survive and become successful versus other groups risks becoming the group's foundational beliefs that can, in turn, build barriers to competing thoughts and is capable of doing evil in defense of those ideals. Does he overstate the case for some groups and understate for others? Yeah, probably he does. But that should not, a priori, relegate the theory to the trash heap in its entirety. I, personally, would cite some of our preemptive US policies and actions over the years as serving to validate his theory in a very uncomfortable and unpleasant manner.
Bloom's theory, on the whole, attacks our desire to believe in a 'paradise lost,' where ancient civilizations lived in oneness with the land and their neighbors. He attacks the popular notion that most of the world's evils are due to modern civilization and posits instead that they are a part of our nature. And if you take his ideas objectively, strip out the rhetoric which may offend, you might end up, as I do, seeing each of us as being personally responsible for trying to bring about more openness between people, groups and societies.
One final note I loved this book because it forced me to think, even where I disagreed with Bloom or found him overbearing. If you enjoy this type of mental challenge, my other long time favorite that contains some outright errors and problems, but forces you to think and perhaps enables you to view the world in new ways is Julian Jaynes' 'The Origin of Consciousness'. This was widely criticized by his peers, in part because it challenges so many deeply ingrained beliefs and in part because it does extrapolate some things beyond their usefulness as Bloom can be accused of. But both Bloom and Jaynes also are rejected by some because they have the audacity to paint an entire grand theory or worldview that differs from the 'tabla rosa' of western philosophies and religious teachings we are all raised with.
Take a chance. Read them both!
(Okay, one more final note. Before some of the reviewers paint me as only a reader of `Tom Clancy novels' as one reviewer wrote to castigate those who liked this book, I admit to reading Clancy and other fun novelists. But I also read many more history, physics, anthropology, archaeology, genetics, cosmology and other books in various scientific and factual realms. And Bloom's book is one of the first in a very long time that had me writing notes to myself while I was reading so that I could follow them up with further research! So even if he is wrong on every point, which he is not, it was still well worth the effort!)
It was a great book from a conceptual standpoint and an OK book from a writing perspective. Great historical examples. His prescription for moving beyond the problem he so succinctly describes was not memorable. Lastly, this book basically is a less intense version of the book "Ghost in the Machine." While Blooms writing is probably above the level most Americans can handle, "Ghost in the Machine" is so heavy that it really must be consumed in small quantities.
Howard Bloom is a genius, this one of his finest books. Makes complex issues seem simple to solve.
This book discusses social behavior throughout life itself and I would highly recommend it. Don't let the book name scare you. It's a great read. I would recommend buying the sound option under the kindle also
This is my favorite book. EVER. This book opened my mind into our human origins in a way that I never experienced before. I bought it some years ago, when it first came out. I now re-read it every few years, just BECAUSE. I am very happy to see that it's now available as a book. I'll start another re-read tomorrow.
Howard Bloom's primary thesis is that evolution of the genome is now only one factor. Evolution of the cultural meme, and interactions among the superorganisms that follow and support this meme are huge contributors to human evolution, as we can see today with the interactions between Islam and western culture. Furthermore, attributes we usually decry such as pecking order, extreme cruelty to "other" who are not our meme-brothers, and violence are endemic to all life, from ants to primates. Women are not exempt at all. Females are just as violent as males, but in a different way.
These Luciferian traits are the knives that carve and shape human and non-humans alike, just as the sculptor chisels away marble to reveal the figure underneath.
Bloom's reference materials are as interesting as his thesis, and he provides plenty of relevant references.
Personally, I thin he is ignoring the fastest growing and most dominant feature of human society - technology. Our tech genome is larger and evolves faster that the culture does. I ripple from discovery to invention to implementation in a fraction of a generation, and changes the way we live, the way we think and the way we consider ourselves in relation to others and the universe at large. Consider these atomic weapons, airplanes, computers, the Web, robots, artificial intelligence, portable energy sources, living on Mars. Their effects are profound. Every meme will bend.
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