The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History

by Howard Bloom

Book Overview

The Lucifer Principle 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.

In a sweeping narrative that moves lucidly among sophisticated scientific disciplines and covers the entire span of the earth's, as well as mankind's, history, Howard...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871136643
• ISBN13: 9780871136640
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Length: 466 Pages
• Weight: 1.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Time to Dust This One Off--Anticipated Radical Islam and Offers Core Ideas for Surviving

Buy and read this book if for no other reason than that the author foresaw the global radicalization of Islam against the West in terms much starker than Samuel Huntington's clash of civilizations and much broader than Yossef Bodansky's brilliant tome on "Bin Laden: the Man Who Declared War on America. Leon Uris is quoted on the cover as saying that this book is "an act of astonishing intellectual courage," and I will say that the author has pulled together an extraordinary collage of details in an intricately assembled "story" in which he challenges the assumptions of a number of major conventional intellects. There are 58 "parts" to this book, each part between two and six pages long, with an astounding array of multi-disciplinary quotes and footnotes. No scared ox goes ungored. Some of the history in this book, of the origin of Mohammed as a possible lunatic and then a vengeful warrior using religion to grab real estate, and of the early split between Sunni and Shiite over the issue of the succession, is very useful today. The author centers the disparate and very broad-ranging pieces of the book on three core ideas: Earth as a superorganism within which a tribe or religion is itself a superorganism; memes as unifying ideas that create us versus them for the sake of changing the pecking order and feeding off weaker tribes, and--in the only optimistic note in the book, at the end, of collaboration and information sharing as the only means to break out of the pattern of dog eat dog. He specifically slams religion, and especially fundamentalist religion, as a false god that substitutes faith for control, and as a tool of controlling elites who need to keep the impoverished masses from waking up to the raw fact that masses of people can indeed "take over" factories and estates. On page 94 the following quote struck me as applying equally to George Bush and Osama Bin Laden: "Leaders like Orville Faubus and Fidel Castro have skillfully manipulated a few basic rules of human nature: that every tribe regards outsiders as fair game; that every society gives permission to hate; that each culture dresses the demon of hatred in the garb of righteousness; and that the man who channels this hatred can rouse the superorganism and lead it around by the nose." There are numerous gifted phrases throughout this book, and I can understand the frustration of some in absorbing this dizzying array of data points, but it is surely worth making the effort. He makes much of the evolution of the brain from reptile (survival) to mammalian (social) to primate (individual) and emphasizes that even the most advanced humans still have all three brains in some form, with the lower forms subject to arousal. Overall I rate this book one of the ten most useful books relevant to understanding and defeating radical Islam, which the author says is "a meme growing ravenous," a sleeping giant that has been awakened. He goes back in time to look at how the US, in forcing th

Intriguing; really most intriguing.

This is an intriguing read full of profound, albeit occasionally hyperbolic, insights guaranteed to stimulate argument and conversation. "The Lucifer Principle is a complex of natural rules, each working together to weave a fabric that sometimes frightens and appalls us...Nature does not abhor evil; she embraces it. She uses it to build. With it, she moves the human world to greater heights of organization, intricacy, and power...[F]rom our best qualities come our worst. From our urge to pull together comes our tendency to tear each other apart. From our devotion to a higher good comes our propensity to the foulest atrocities. From our commitment to ideals comes our excuse to hate...[E]vil is woven into our most basic biological fabric." (2-3) The primal moving force of evolution is not individual selection, but rather group competition. (5-6) "The individual is a cell in the social superorganism." (56)Obviously, this is outside the mainstream of conventional thought, but Bloom supports his thesis well. He takes us on a psychological tour of the human species. Along the way he reaches throughout history as well as throughout the animal kingdom for examples and corollaries. Many are unexpected and some challenge popular understanding (achieving group dominance via aggression and infanticide among chimpanzees, for example).Bloom identifies five concepts that "are the foundation underlying the Lucifer Principle." (10) Paraphrasing, these are: · Self-organizing systems - Bits of structure, such as genes, that function as minifactories that crank out their goods so cheaply that the end results are appallingly expendable. Among those expendable products are you and me. · The superorganism - We are not the rugged individuals we would like to be. We are, instead, disposable parts of a being much larger than ourselves - a larger social organism. This can be a nation, an ethnic group, an ideology, and so on. · The meme - A self-replicating cluster of ideas that become the glue that holds together these superorganisms, giving each its distinctive culture. · The neural net - The group mind whose eccentric mode of operation manipulates our emotions and turns us into components of a massive learning machine. · The pecking order - The key to despotism, this helps explain why the danger of barbarians is real and why the assumptions of our foreign policies are often wrong."Superorganism, ideas, and the pecking order - these are the primary forces behind much of human creativity and earthly good. They are the holy trinity of the Lucifer Principle." (326)His is not an abstract anthropological survey. Bloom intends it to have sound application in the interactions of groups (i.e., superorganism). In particular, he is writing for the United States today. He says we have peaked as a nation and are on the decline. Like all empires that came before, we will not stay on top of the pecking order indefinitely. I agree with this even

Very interesting ideas

While it is unlikely that anyone can read this book and agree 100 percent with the ideas being developed, it does have some profound insights. It seems at first glance to be somewhat mystical in its nature talking of the superorganism and how it 'chooses' different roles for those involved. Ultimately it makes these choices to propagate its own survival, and within that we begin to view what we tend to call 'evil'. But really it is no more or less mystical or material (depending on how you choose to view it) then what individual cells within our own bodies do, fighting and dying and reproducing. What Bloom has done is to see this collection of individual building blocks to create a larger whole (like the human body) and apply it as a template from the most simple cells to the most complex beings, that then comprise another whole. We have trouble recognizing this whole, just as a cell would have trouble 'recognizing' its role as a constituent of a body. If you read Global Brain by the same author you get a clearer picture of how this design scheme is implicit within all of nature from bacteria to humans. It's an interesting theory and well in its infancy if it proves to be of value. I think because of that it cannot be whole heartedly endorsed, but nor should it be outrightly rejected, not until more research has been done. For me it ultimately seems thatBloom attempts to answer the most intractable philosophical questions, such as, 'Why is there evil?' in a biological way. It is very easy to read and gives some great information that would be enjoyable even if taken outside of the research Bloom is doing. A good book.

Stunning View of Contemporary Culture

'The Lucifer Principle' draws together over 25 years of cutting-edge research into socio-biology, memetics, cultural transformation theory, and socio-political theory to examine the hidden impulses that pervade our society. The book has fundamental insights into the nature of Evil, and the longterm - and often unappreciated - power of 60 million year old genetic programs and deep brain structures.Deftly written with intelligence and wit, Bloom is able to make contemporary science directly relevant to the new reader. He draws on many cultural, historical, and scientific examples to examine key principles: the pecking order, the superorganism (group-mind), and the meme. He writes provocatively on the Closing of the American Mind amidst geo-political chaos, the impact of neuro-biological research on feminism and other debates, and pulls apart group politics and political fanaticism with grat verve. Bloom is criticised by some pro/con extremists as simply attacking Islam, but a close reading of his work shows an awareness of the coming crisis with Islam (Samuel P. Huntington) and the dangers of militancy in attacking the contemporary Open Society. Bloom is not above demolishing other fanaticisms either.'The Lucifer Principle' has become one of the most influential science books since its publication, hailed by 22 world scientists as a major work. Hidden throughout the text are revelations on Bloom's pioneering use of perceptual engineering within the rock PR industry (his clients included Michael Jackson, Prince, Bette Middler, Simon & Garfunkel, AC/DC, and Joan Jett), and hints at the future direction of the landmark 'International Paleopsychology Project' he now runs. The book is extensively annotated, but is easily readable and accessible - a testament to Bloom's skill as a writer.Few books will change your life or conceptual worldview. This is definately one of them. Highly recommended.