Click here to hear my dulcet tones woo you to sleep

I just received my copy of the audiobook of “The Self Illusion” which I recorded some weeks back in deepest Leicestershire. As I noted in my earlier post, recording an audiobook is much harder than it might seem but I am pleased to say that I love the finished product. Not because I am in love with hearing my ‘self’ speak (who is?) but the guys at WholeStory audiobooks have done such a fine job of making me sound good. So good in fact that one of my Tweeter followers (@seansterooney) said I sound like a mix of David Tennant (Dr. Who) and Keanu Reeves. Boy those guys at WholeStory must be wizards!

The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny for man.

Ernest Becker, 1973 “The Denial of Death”

I was very intrigued to learn of the new Institute for Dark Tourism Research that opened last week at the University of Central Lancashire. According to their mission statement, “The Institute for Dark Tourism Research aims to advance knowledge about the act of visitation to tourist sites of death, disaster or the seemingly macabre.” The Institute’s director is Dr. Philip Stone who spent 15 years in the tourism industry before becoming an academic. On reading Dr. Stone’s academic profile, I learned a new word as he has a Ph.D. in “thanatology” – society’s reactions to and perceptions of death and mortality and has co-edited a book, “The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism” (Channel View Publications, 2009).

Every year, thousands of people visits sites such as Ground Zero and Auschwitz in what Dr. Stone calls a compulsion to face their own mortality in a secular pilgrimage. ”People feel anxious before – and then better when they leave, glad that it’s not them,” he told the BBC education correspondent.

However, there is a  psychological theory called “Terror Management Theory” (TMT) that shows that when people are made aware of their own mortality, they become more punitive and aggressive towards others who could potentially threaten their world view and self-esteem. For example, judges are more likely to hand down harsher sentences if they have been reminded of their impending deaths.

TMT, developed over 20 years ago by social psychologists, explains how humans come to cope with death anxiety by developing self-esteem and attributing purpose to life. However, we do this by shoring up our own cultural identities, self-esteem, and frankly become more conservative in the way that we view others who might threaten our world view. So while Dark Tourism might make us feel all the better about being alive, it may make us less tolerant of others which just seems so counter-intuitive.

I have some kind, generous comments from David Eagleman, Michael Shermer and Robin Ince on the cover and so far, the first reviews have been positive. However, one reviewer has expressed some existentialist angst reading it but it’s ok, you can’t easily get rid of the grand illusionist that my colleague Dan Wegner has called “The Great Selfini.”

If you decide to buy it, you can order it from amazon. The US and Canadian versions are being published next month. If you do get a chance to read it, let me know what you think. I am hoping it will stimulate minds and debate.  I am sure it will annoy/upset/depress/ liberate (delete as appropriate) a number of you but it should most definitely not bore the reader. And yes, I know the estimated number of atoms in the observable universe is considerably more than 1081. If you read it, you’ll understand why.

Occasionally there are neurological conditions that precipitate the actions such as the case of Charles Whitman that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. However, as noted by Professor Ian Robertson, the commentator on that blog, it seems implausible that every rampage killer has a brain tumor. So why do individuals go on murder sprees? Kip Williams, a psychologist at Purdue University thinks it may have something to do with ostracism – when we are ignored and excluded from groups. In his research he demonstrated that social rejection is one of the most painful events that as a social animal, we can endure. He experienced this first hand after an episode in a local park when he was taking a walk and a Frisbee hit him in the back of his head. He picked it up and threw it back to the two players, who then engaged Williams by throwing the Frisbee back to him. All was fine until the two players returned their attention to each other and ignored Williams. He remembers feeling very hurt and then went off to study why we feel so upset by rejection.

It turns out that we are trip-wired to detect when the group to which we want to belong, rejects us. This shows up in measures of mood as well as brain imaging studies that reveal that the pain of social rejection also activates brain centers associated with physical pain. It is a particularly aversive experience, which is why most of us will automatically change our behaviour in an attempt to re-establish ourselves as members of the group, to the extent that we can become obsequious. If these efforts fail, then the ostracized individual will seek to force the group to recognize their existence. Williams has shown that ostracized individuals will seek revenge and are more aggressive to innocent bystanders. In its extreme form, this may be the motivation behind the lone gunman who goes on a rampage. In 13 out of 15 cases of school shootings in the United States, shooters had been targets of ostracism. For humans, group acceptance and reputation is paramount. For some, to be ostracized from the group is the worst fate imaginable. It can be considered a ‘psychological death.’

Pat (Archer) Gallimore and Me after a hard days reading

The studio in Syston where I am recording my book has an excellent set-up and I was totally surprised to discover that a fellow reader was none other than Pat Gallimore. When we were introduced, I knew she sounded re-assuringly comforting and very familiar. She explained that I might recognize her professional persona of Pat Archer. Gasp.. For those of you unfamiliar with “The Archers,” it is and has been the leading Radio Four soup opera for the past 60 years and Pat Archer is one of the main characters. The show has one of the strongest, most loyal fan bases in the world.

So Pat and I have been hanging out and discussing the difficulties of voice artists.  I now have a new found appreciation of what they do and more importantly, the difficulty of understanding the written word. For example, I have a problem with the word, “similarly” and vow to avoid this in future books of mine.  I dare say this will be the last time I do an audio reading of my book but it has been a valuable learning experience. But I have come to loath the sound of my own voice.

It is still too early to know and I guess that this blog is yet another example of premature speculation, but I was preparing a lecture on “The Self Illusion” where I discuss the case of Charles Whitman, the Texas sniper. For 96 minutes on a hot summer’s afternoon in 1966, Whitman killed students on the University of Texas campus at Austen before he was eventually shot dead by police. What makes his rampage so unusual was that Whitman believed that he was not thinking rationally and that there was something making him commit the murders. He wrote in his suicide note,

“I don’t quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I don’t really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I can’t recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. These thoughts constantly recur and it requires a tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful and progressive tasks…… After my death I wish that an autopsy would be performed on me to see if there is any visible physical disorder.”

And there was. His autopsy revealed a tumour in his limbic system that would have been consistent with rage and sudden mood swings. Other cases, I talk about in the book, include a pedophile who was discovered to have a tumor in his frontal lobes that would have impaired his impulse control. When the tumor was removed – his sexual perversion abated. However, when he started taking a sexual interest in children two years later, a brain scan revealed that his tumor had returned.

The lawyers acting for Sgt Robert Bales have begun to piece together a defense claiming that he was suffering from brain damage following a head injury that he sustained on a tour of duty in Iraq. It is not clear whether this will turn out to be correct. It may be that no such pathological evidence will show up in scans or neurophysiological measures. Even if there is some physical evidence of a disorder, will that make him less culpable? I expect most of us would regard brain damage as mitigating circumstances but what of others who suddenly lose control? Are they any less guilty? These are difficult questions about neuroethics but I doubt that any explanation is going to satisfy the Afghan people’s demand for justice.

So I was both shocked and saddened to hear about the death of an infant boy last September who contracted herpes after his circumcision by a rabbi using the ultra-Orthodox ritual known as metzizah b’ peh where the rabbi removes blood from the wound with his mouth. Where was this medieval ritual performed? Can you believe it took place in Brooklyn Hospital, New York? It’s unclear who performed the circumcision but it is not the first time infants have contracted herpes in this bizarre ritual. In 2004, three infants circumcised by Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer were determined to have contracted herpes, city officials said. In 2005, there was another infant death following this practice.

I am all for the importance of tradition as Topol would say, but enough is enough. No doubt the parents are distraught at losing their child but this ritual needs to be criminalized. Needless to say, the rabbi who is responsible for this is beyond contempt. He must have known that he had herpes at some point and he also must of known of the risk. I can’t really see any justification for allowing this practice to continue.
.