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17 / 07 / 2004
The dialogue "The social brain" proposes a biological study on culture and mechanisms that incline us towards war or peace
Jaume Bertranpetit: "Understanding biological and cognitive bases will lead us to the age-old desire to know more about ourselves".
Joan Clos, the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Bertranpetit, university professor from the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona and Òscar Vilarroya, director of the Dialogue, inaugurated the Dialogue "The social brain. Biology of conflicts and cooperation" this morning at the Universal Forum of Cultures, which will be held until 20 July. "What we propose is a biological study of culture, politics and, within politics, the capacity of humans to wage war or peace. Politics have to take a new roll to preserve our environment so that we do not destroy ourselves. Is there an element in our biology that makes us aggressive or cooperative?" asked Joan Clos.
Mayor Joan Clos indicated that Forum Barcelona 2004 "is deeply interested" in understanding the biology of culture, and within this, the biology of politics, which is the base of conflicts, and affirmed that "the discoveries of science in terms of how the brain works are essential so that societies can live peacefully. We must learn that what will bring us peace depends on ourselves, and not on an external God. The brain constructs cooperation through language and dialogue, instruments to wage war or peace". The mayor said that men have not yet been able to find a solution for the conflict between Israel and Palestine and affirmed that, according to him, "peace is no more than finding a solution that satisfies both parties."
Joan Clos indicated that although there is a shared political ideal for peace "peace is understood in many ways". He mentioned the example of when Franco celebrated "25 years of peace" in a country that was immersed in dictatorship and said that "it is not the peace imposed by a tyrant that should emerge from the negotiation of conflicts, this imposed peace does not interest us, neither does insipid peace, but the peace that emerges from negotiation".
Conflicts or peace depend on the experiences, models of learning, habits, and each person´s different perception of reality. All this comes directed by biological internal mechanisms that science is beginning to understand. In order to understand it better, a video was projected on an experiment of the University of Valencia with sportsmen to whom they made practice a sport different than theirs. The experiment shows how a Rugby player, in a rugby uniform, must face a basketball player, and cannot avoid the aggressive body contact in a basketball court, that does not allow this type of contact. The player has rugby habits so acquired that although he wants to respect the norms, it is very hard for him.
Professor Jaume Bertranpetit affirmed "Biology is beginning to grasp the intimate bases of life and which is the conjunction of the genes and the surroundings, that is to say, the phenomena that takes a molecule to human behavior. And why do we want to understand it? In order to know who we are, the position that we hold in nature, our singularity as individuals, the degree of determinism as biological beings, and really to understand the world, and later if it is precise, to modify the things that are in agreement in the social and cultural scope."
Bertranpetit said that now we know that humans are a product of evolution and natural selection, we are not made from a design. Therefore, we should not be surprised by certain behaviors that come from our history or our biological memory as hunters-collectors. This only began to change 10,000 years ago when we stopped hunting. "Intelligence has not developed in order to understand the world, but to survive", he affirmed, and added "we are interested in knowing if we are solitary or aggressive, in defense of the highest values more elevated of the human condition such as peace or freedom. Knowing biological and cognitive bases will lead us to the yearned for desire to know ourselves."
More than 300 people attended the morning session, basically students and university professors who listened to researchers from around the world, mainly from North American universities, who will speak on neuroscience and evolutionary Biology and its relation to human behavior and in situations of conflict or cooperation.
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