I was reading an historical article from MIT Technology
Review on the development of neuroscience over the millennia, specifically the
recent advances in optogenetics. I am
not so sure that this immediately rivets your attention. But there is one finding they review that I
think you will really enjoy hearing about.
Caltech did some research in 2010 on the origins of
aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior
is largely governed in the hypothalamus, a small deep module in the brain. They were able to induce serious fights
between rats by zapping the hypothalamus.
Perhaps not surprisingly, this is also where the instinct to copulate
is. Not love (which I would hope is not
in the same place as aggression), but pure sex.
The funny part is that there is a small clump of about 5,000
neurons that overlap. It represents
about 20 % of the total. These cells get
electrically activated when the rats were being aggressive and when
copulating. So the scientists wanted to
know which behavior would win out if they zapped this area. Would the rats copulate or fight?
It turns out sex wins.
They could induce two rats to fight by activating one part of the
hypothalamus, and then by adding some electricity to the joint area switch them
to copulating.
My Take
So here is my idea.
The research was done in rats, but there is probably some version of
this that can be induced in humans. So
as a condition of parole, felons who are released after being convicted of
aggressive crimes have to have an implant in this area. If ever they engage in an act of aggression,
it automatically triggers, causing them to attempt to copulate with whoever
they were about to fight with.
If they never get aggressive, nothing would ever
happen. So they would maintain full
control and freedom of action. I have a
feeling this would be a pretty powerful disincentive for aggressive behavior,
don’t you?
