Daniel Buk writes:
What if the whole world learns to love each other? What if that interpersonal neuropsychological attachment is translated onto the international level? A global community might become possible via this. If the thesis is true, then even if we simply start opening up to other cultures in a more understanding and loving way, then we will eventually adapt to it until we ‘become’ ‘lovers’, and the saying ‘all we need is love’ will become more valid, because we would really neurobiologically NEED love to function as complete human beings, hence, we would NEED each other to love and be loved. This can set the stage for the neurobiological foundations of a global/world community.
He asks:
Can a sense of cosmopolitanism (love beyond/regardless of borders) have a neuropsychological/neurobiological basis?
As someone influenced by theorists like Ulrich Beck, I tend to cherish the cosmopolitan idea. But I don’t understand what we have to gain by dwelling on neuropsychology in the way proposed here. Sometimes this kind of crossover has good results, as when neuroeconomics challenges old dogmas of economists that were probably obviously wrong, anyway.
Back to the question: Does cosmopolitanism or love (which are two different things) happen in the mind? Of course. So if we equate mind with brain (as in Francis Crick’s “astonishing hypothesis”), we get to discuss cosmopolitanism as a social behavior reducible to scientific explanation. All the aesthetic, moral, ethical, and political dimensions of human life get swept up and dumped upon the criteria of prediction and control. I am not accusing Daniel of this, but I think it’s a hazard for him to be aware of.
I am also concerned about the idea of “need” for love. The assertion being offered is that human persons require love for neurobiological perfection. I don’t see any difference between perfection and completion in this context. And so we have a teleological view of human development: As an acorn must become an oak tree, a human must experience love. If we would just let it happen, just get out of the way, acorns will sprout, and the world will become a place of pervasive love.
Unfortunately, complete persons do not exist. There will always be room for more: more health, more emotion, more reason, and more love. I aspire to be more like Epicurus than a suicide bomber, but I cannot say that a suicide bomber is less complete because her mirror neurons are not doing what they ought to. I suspect that some of the most violent people have no shortage of divine love for their gods, brotherly love for their accomplices, and erotic love for their mates. I cannot even begin to imagine what crazy things are happening in their frontal lobes.
The problems of a globalized world, right here, right now, do not demand to be addressed on a neural level. Sure, mental health care is becoming increasingly important (as clinical depression becomes epidemic). But if you want to spread love, do it with opportunities for education, clean water, and cultural understanding. Do not worry too much about the brain.