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Frans de Waal forecasts the future

By Frans De Waal

15 November 2006

Given that our brains absorb and reflect everything around us, they are barely our own. We all carry society’s brains around, and the biggest advance in science will come from disentangling the feedback loop between brain development and the ancient primate tendencies that shape our societies.

We have the distinction of going where no species has gone before. Whether we make good use of that distinction depends on human nature and the way we choose to organise our societies. What is the value of medical discoveries if most people cannot afford them? What good does it do to harness power…

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