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The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History
The Lucifer Priciple 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.
466 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Howard Bloom
20 books298 followers"I know a lot of people. A lot. And I ask a lot of prying questions. But I've never run into a more intriguing biography than Howard Bloom's in all my born days. " Paul Solman, Business and Economics Correspondent, PBS NewsHour
Howard Bloom has been called “next in a lineage of seminal thinkers that includes Newton, Darwin, Einstein,[and] Freud,” by Britain's Channel4 TV, "the next Stephen Hawking" by Gear Magazine, and "The Buckminster Fuller and Arthur C. Clarke of the new millennium" by Buckminster Fuller's archivist. Bloom is the author of The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History ("mesmerizing"—The Washington Post), Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century ("reassuring and sobering"—The New Yorker), The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism ("Impressive, stimulating, and tremendously enjoyable." James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic), and The God Problem: How A Godless Cosmos Creates ("Bloom's argument will rock your world." Barbara Ehrenreich). Bloom has been published in arxiv.org, the leading pre-print site in advanced theoretical physics and math. He was invited to tell an international conference of quantum physicists in Moscow in 2005 why everything they know about quantum physics is wrong. And his book Global Brain was the subject of an Office of the Secretary of Defense symposium in 2010, with participants from the State Department, the Energy Department, DARPA, IBM, and MIT. Bloom has founded three international scientific groups: the Group Selection Squad (1995), which fought to gain acceptance for the concept of group selection in evolutionary biology; The International Paleopsychology Project (1997), which worked to create a new multi-disciplinary synthesis between cosmology, paleontology, evolutionary biology, and history; and The Space Development Steering Committee (2007), an organization that includes astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Edgar Mitchell and members from NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense.
Bloom explains that his focus is “mass behavior, from the mass behavior of quarks to the mass behavior of human beings.” In 1968 Bloom turned down four fellowships in psychology and neurobiology and set off on a science project in a field he knew nothing about: popular culture. He was determined to tunnel into the forces of history by entering “the belly of the beast where new myths, new mass passions, and new mass movements are made.” Bloom used simple correlational techniques plus what he calls “tuned empathy” and “saturated intuition” to help build or sustain the careers of figures like Prince, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Billy Idol, Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, John Mellencamp, Queen, Kiss, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Run DMC, and roughly 100 others. In the process, he generated $28 billion in revenues (more than the gross domestic product of Oman or Luxembourg) for companies like Sony, Disney, Pepsi Cola, Coca Cola, and Warner Brothers. Bloom also helped launch Farm Aid and Amnesty International’s American presence. He worked with the United Negro College Fund,the National Black United Fund, and the NAACP, and he put together the first public service radio campaign for solar power (1981). Today, his focus on group behavior extends to geopolitics. He has debated one-one-one with senior officials from Egypt’s Moslem Brotherhood and Gaza’s Hamas on Iran’s Arab-language international Alalam TV News Network. He has dissected headline issues on Saudi Arabia’s KSA1-TV and on Iran’s global English language Press-TV. And he has appeared fifty two times for up to five hours on 500 radio stations in North America.
Bloom is a former visiting scholar in the Graduate School of Psychology at NYU and a former core faculty member at the Graduate Institute in Meriden, Connecticut. He has written for Th
Howard Bloom has been called “next in a lineage of seminal thinkers that includes Newton, Darwin, Einstein,[and] Freud,” by Britain's Channel4 TV, "the next Stephen Hawking" by Gear Magazine, and "The Buckminster Fuller and Arthur C. Clarke of the new millennium" by Buckminster Fuller's archivist. Bloom is the author of The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History ("mesmerizing"—The Washington Post), Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century ("reassuring and sobering"—The New Yorker), The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism ("Impressive, stimulating, and tremendously enjoyable." James Fallows, National Correspondent, The Atlantic), and The God Problem: How A Godless Cosmos Creates ("Bloom's argument will rock your world." Barbara Ehrenreich). Bloom has been published in arxiv.org, the leading pre-print site in advanced theoretical physics and math. He was invited to tell an international conference of quantum physicists in Moscow in 2005 why everything they know about quantum physics is wrong. And his book Global Brain was the subject of an Office of the Secretary of Defense symposium in 2010, with participants from the State Department, the Energy Department, DARPA, IBM, and MIT. Bloom has founded three international scientific groups: the Group Selection Squad (1995), which fought to gain acceptance for the concept of group selection in evolutionary biology; The International Paleopsychology Project (1997), which worked to create a new multi-disciplinary synthesis between cosmology, paleontology, evolutionary biology, and history; and The Space Development Steering Committee (2007), an organization that includes astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Edgar Mitchell and members from NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense.
Bloom explains that his focus is “mass behavior, from the mass behavior of quarks to the mass behavior of human beings.” In 1968 Bloom turned down four fellowships in psychology and neurobiology and set off on a science project in a field he knew nothing about: popular culture. He was determined to tunnel into the forces of history by entering “the belly of the beast where new myths, new mass passions, and new mass movements are made.” Bloom used simple correlational techniques plus what he calls “tuned empathy” and “saturated intuition” to help build or sustain the careers of figures like Prince, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Billy Idol, Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, John Mellencamp, Queen, Kiss, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Run DMC, and roughly 100 others. In the process, he generated $28 billion in revenues (more than the gross domestic product of Oman or Luxembourg) for companies like Sony, Disney, Pepsi Cola, Coca Cola, and Warner Brothers. Bloom also helped launch Farm Aid and Amnesty International’s American presence. He worked with the United Negro College Fund,the National Black United Fund, and the NAACP, and he put together the first public service radio campaign for solar power (1981). Today, his focus on group behavior extends to geopolitics. He has debated one-one-one with senior officials from Egypt’s Moslem Brotherhood and Gaza’s Hamas on Iran’s Arab-language international Alalam TV News Network. He has dissected headline issues on Saudi Arabia’s KSA1-TV and on Iran’s global English language Press-TV. And he has appeared fifty two times for up to five hours on 500 radio stations in North America.
Bloom is a former visiting scholar in the Graduate School of Psychology at NYU and a former core faculty member at the Graduate Institute in Meriden, Connecticut. He has written for Th
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August 30, 2012not fair. i wrote it. but here's one of my favorite reviews from amazon.com:
Reviewer: Adelia Bernini
What are some of these reviewers going on about? Trying to crush a meme perhaps? This book is truly brilliant. It's the new Bible. In fact I would replace those Gideon Bibles that lurk in bedside draws in hotel rooms with this blinding stonker. 'The Lucifer Principal' is the truth. Go buy...
Reviewer: Adelia Bernini
What are some of these reviewers going on about? Trying to crush a meme perhaps? This book is truly brilliant. It's the new Bible. In fact I would replace those Gideon Bibles that lurk in bedside draws in hotel rooms with this blinding stonker. 'The Lucifer Principal' is the truth. Go buy...
January 8, 2008
Bloom has been declared by several people to be one of the great geniuses of the last 50 years. I don't understand that declaration. Sure, he's smarter than me, but I'm also not suffering from insanity like he is.
The Lucifer Principle is basically a study in the genetic roots of good and evil in nature. Of course, nature does not know 'good' and 'evil', and therefore most of this book is useless. Despite his extensive citing of works, Bloom borders on using almost supernatural and ambiguous explanations for his theories, which I don't like. Also, it's full of bile and rage which are the products of someone who has major issues with Muslims, Germans, and basically everyone outside of his apartment.
It took me several months of picking it up and putting it down to finish this book because of how strongly I disagreed with much of what he said. BUT, I do like a challenge and different points of view so on that basis, it was worth reading.
The Lucifer Principle is basically a study in the genetic roots of good and evil in nature. Of course, nature does not know 'good' and 'evil', and therefore most of this book is useless. Despite his extensive citing of works, Bloom borders on using almost supernatural and ambiguous explanations for his theories, which I don't like. Also, it's full of bile and rage which are the products of someone who has major issues with Muslims, Germans, and basically everyone outside of his apartment.
It took me several months of picking it up and putting it down to finish this book because of how strongly I disagreed with much of what he said. BUT, I do like a challenge and different points of view so on that basis, it was worth reading.
August 23, 2008
This is really two different books that have been smashed together. The first one proposes a framework for history that views human societies as "superorganisms" subject to the same evolutionary pressures that guide biology. The second one is a long jeremiad about the decline and fall of American civilization. This part is hugely disappointing, and consists largely of a smattering of polemics (against multiculturalism and the Islamic world, as two random examples) buttressed by history that has been so horrendously oversimplified, or outright distorted, that I want to slap him in the face for being a retard.
This is a shame, because the first half of the book is really pretty brilliant. Bloom sees human social collectives as biological entities dedicated to replicating their memes. As such, they display behaviors that can be found in many other organisms as well--particularly in terms of dominance hierarchies and the nature of conflict. There are some serious problems with this (for example, the unprovability of memes), Bloom has the unfortunate tendency to use anecdotes to prove sweepingly general rules, and the very idea can at times be breathtakingly reductive. It is far from an airtight case, but even the schematic that Bloom produces--love it or hate it--will stimulate you to think about these issues from angles you never thought of before.
This is a shame, because the first half of the book is really pretty brilliant. Bloom sees human social collectives as biological entities dedicated to replicating their memes. As such, they display behaviors that can be found in many other organisms as well--particularly in terms of dominance hierarchies and the nature of conflict. There are some serious problems with this (for example, the unprovability of memes), Bloom has the unfortunate tendency to use anecdotes to prove sweepingly general rules, and the very idea can at times be breathtakingly reductive. It is far from an airtight case, but even the schematic that Bloom produces--love it or hate it--will stimulate you to think about these issues from angles you never thought of before.
June 23, 2022
Subtitle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History. The most important thing to know about this book is that it was published in 1995, because a lot of its statements and predictions look a lot more impressive than if they had been written in, say, October of 2001.
In the (very short) opening chapter, "Who is Lucifer?", Howard Bloom lets you know what sort of book this is going to be. In short, not a delicate or tactful one. The answer, according to Bloom, is that Lucifer is Mother Nature's alter ego, and the rest of the book goes towards explaining why.
Bloom ties together several somewhat controversial, but plausible ideas, and takes them to their logical conclusion. Roughly in order, these are:
1) evolution happens not only at the level of the individual organism, but also at the level of the gene, and the social structure. Some genes kill others off, some social structures kill others off, and this happens more or less independently of the wishes, or even knowledge, of the organisms themselves.
2) just as neurons, or other cells, have self-destruct mechanisms inside them that lead to beneficial results for the tissues they are part of ("if you find yourself in this situation, divide, otherwise, die off"), societies inculcate similar self-destruct mechanisms inside the minds of the people that compose them.
3) as societies compete, males are expendable. It takes only a minority of successful males to produce the next generation, and those males need to be predisposed to success not only by their genetics but also by their ideology. Since the optimal ideology for success is not the same from one era to the next, adolescent males are predisposed towards competition, and towards violent behavior when they are not successful (by this theory, lower class males will always be more likely to be violent, simply because they are less successful, by whatever standards that society uses).
4) as they become successful, societies will be less likely to encourage those attributes of aggression and competitiveness which enable them to respond effectively to the challenge from "barbarian" cultures which still cultivate them. Thus the Romans (more than capable of savagery in their day) became unable to resist the Teutonic barbarians from the north, the Chinese became unable to resist the nomads from the north, and so forth. It is not an accident of history, it is an inevitable result of prosperity itself. By encouraging milder behavior (so as to reduce problems internally), they lose the ability to defend themselves.
5) The United States is not immune to this.
Reading this book is not easy. Bloom tells stories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, of communist revolution in Russia and elsewhere, of Oliver Cromwell's brutal methods with his enemies, of Mohammed's wars, of Persia and Babylon, etc. etc. In each case, he draws parallels to the behavior of other species (from chickens to apes), showing how the primitive instincts and drives of animals explain the events of history at least as well (perhaps better) than any theory which relies on their rational faculties. But because the topic is violent conflict, you have to read about a lot of violence, and it isn't always much fun.
Which is the sort of thing which Bloom suggests is wrong with America (recall this was written in the mid-90's, when we were enjoying a "peace dividend" to balance our budget). Having just seen the havoc which can be wrought on a country when the leadership is too enamored of military solutions, some of Bloom's conclusions may seem unnecessarily grim.
However, when he says "We are [ignoring] the ubiquitous genocide in black Africa and the hatred aimed against us by a host of Islamic nations we insist on calling friends. Why? For the same reason that one animal passing another it knows to be much bigger stares in another direction."
We have certainly been guilty, in the years since 1989, of ignoring the problems overseas which we most need to be involved in, and spending our time in other directions (Bloom also points out various past societies that turn to a conservative fixation on the past when their position is threatened; I leave the drawing of parallels to our recent politics to the reader).
The real question raised by Bloom's analysis is: so what? Bloom essentially says that we must understand why history works the way it does before we can change it, but he doesn't say much about how we can change it. He does point out a few things that won't work: nostalgia for the values of the past, ignoring threats of violence from beyond our borders, or pretending that bloody conflict is a recent invention which humanity created (and therefore can simply stop encouraging, perhaps by banning violence in TV shows). Violence and conflict are the normal states of nearly all animal species, and human history shows we are not by any means a natural exception.
In this way, Bloom's "Lucifer Principle" functions much like the germ theory of disease. It doesn't solve the problem, but it allows us to look more clearly at the source. So long as doctors tried to treat infectious disease by attempting to balance the humours, there was little or no chance of success. Bloom says that memes and superorganisms (religions, nations, ideologies) are competing for reproductive success, using us up like cells in a body in the process. If he is right, the next question is, how do we make them stop?
In the (very short) opening chapter, "Who is Lucifer?", Howard Bloom lets you know what sort of book this is going to be. In short, not a delicate or tactful one. The answer, according to Bloom, is that Lucifer is Mother Nature's alter ego, and the rest of the book goes towards explaining why.
Bloom ties together several somewhat controversial, but plausible ideas, and takes them to their logical conclusion. Roughly in order, these are:
1) evolution happens not only at the level of the individual organism, but also at the level of the gene, and the social structure. Some genes kill others off, some social structures kill others off, and this happens more or less independently of the wishes, or even knowledge, of the organisms themselves.
2) just as neurons, or other cells, have self-destruct mechanisms inside them that lead to beneficial results for the tissues they are part of ("if you find yourself in this situation, divide, otherwise, die off"), societies inculcate similar self-destruct mechanisms inside the minds of the people that compose them.
3) as societies compete, males are expendable. It takes only a minority of successful males to produce the next generation, and those males need to be predisposed to success not only by their genetics but also by their ideology. Since the optimal ideology for success is not the same from one era to the next, adolescent males are predisposed towards competition, and towards violent behavior when they are not successful (by this theory, lower class males will always be more likely to be violent, simply because they are less successful, by whatever standards that society uses).
4) as they become successful, societies will be less likely to encourage those attributes of aggression and competitiveness which enable them to respond effectively to the challenge from "barbarian" cultures which still cultivate them. Thus the Romans (more than capable of savagery in their day) became unable to resist the Teutonic barbarians from the north, the Chinese became unable to resist the nomads from the north, and so forth. It is not an accident of history, it is an inevitable result of prosperity itself. By encouraging milder behavior (so as to reduce problems internally), they lose the ability to defend themselves.
5) The United States is not immune to this.
Reading this book is not easy. Bloom tells stories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, of communist revolution in Russia and elsewhere, of Oliver Cromwell's brutal methods with his enemies, of Mohammed's wars, of Persia and Babylon, etc. etc. In each case, he draws parallels to the behavior of other species (from chickens to apes), showing how the primitive instincts and drives of animals explain the events of history at least as well (perhaps better) than any theory which relies on their rational faculties. But because the topic is violent conflict, you have to read about a lot of violence, and it isn't always much fun.
Which is the sort of thing which Bloom suggests is wrong with America (recall this was written in the mid-90's, when we were enjoying a "peace dividend" to balance our budget). Having just seen the havoc which can be wrought on a country when the leadership is too enamored of military solutions, some of Bloom's conclusions may seem unnecessarily grim.
However, when he says "We are [ignoring] the ubiquitous genocide in black Africa and the hatred aimed against us by a host of Islamic nations we insist on calling friends. Why? For the same reason that one animal passing another it knows to be much bigger stares in another direction."
We have certainly been guilty, in the years since 1989, of ignoring the problems overseas which we most need to be involved in, and spending our time in other directions (Bloom also points out various past societies that turn to a conservative fixation on the past when their position is threatened; I leave the drawing of parallels to our recent politics to the reader).
The real question raised by Bloom's analysis is: so what? Bloom essentially says that we must understand why history works the way it does before we can change it, but he doesn't say much about how we can change it. He does point out a few things that won't work: nostalgia for the values of the past, ignoring threats of violence from beyond our borders, or pretending that bloody conflict is a recent invention which humanity created (and therefore can simply stop encouraging, perhaps by banning violence in TV shows). Violence and conflict are the normal states of nearly all animal species, and human history shows we are not by any means a natural exception.
In this way, Bloom's "Lucifer Principle" functions much like the germ theory of disease. It doesn't solve the problem, but it allows us to look more clearly at the source. So long as doctors tried to treat infectious disease by attempting to balance the humours, there was little or no chance of success. Bloom says that memes and superorganisms (religions, nations, ideologies) are competing for reproductive success, using us up like cells in a body in the process. If he is right, the next question is, how do we make them stop?
September 30, 2009
I started out very excited by this book. The ideas about humans behaving as superorganisms were quite interesting and seemingly apt. But as I read on I started to realize I didn't fully trust Bloom's research and presentation. He started to come across as a Bill Mahr skeptic, that is, critical of things such as religion, but willing to take things such as alternative medicine on faith. Bloom's insistence that medical doctors are merely dealers in the illusion of control and simply deny that anything outside of their control exists made me suspicious. His brief chapter on homeopathy as "a set of cures that could heal us" that has "almost disappeared" because we are "in the hands of the winners" made me downgrade this book a star. It doesn't take much research to realize what a farce homeopathy is, and if Bloom will swallow it that uncritically, can the rest of his research be trusted?
September 6, 2009
I usually do not write reviews of books I read, but I decided to make an exception. If I could rate this less than 1 star, I would, because it might be one of the most poorly written non-fiction books I have ever read in my entire life. One more tweak over the edge and it might be a parody of social and historical inquiry.
The entire book reads like a poorly conceived term paper full of pedantic, meandering discussions, unsupported arguments, and misplaced metaphors. It is no groundbreaking insight that people are naturally equipped to do bad things. What the author does not delve into sufficiently is what this means for civilization and society - basically how we can manage our 'evil' impulses.
The author claims not to be properly trained in the discourse, and it shows. I cannot help but wonder how the book got published and what kind of editorial staff signed off on this. Read this book to learn what not to do.
The entire book reads like a poorly conceived term paper full of pedantic, meandering discussions, unsupported arguments, and misplaced metaphors. It is no groundbreaking insight that people are naturally equipped to do bad things. What the author does not delve into sufficiently is what this means for civilization and society - basically how we can manage our 'evil' impulses.
The author claims not to be properly trained in the discourse, and it shows. I cannot help but wonder how the book got published and what kind of editorial staff signed off on this. Read this book to learn what not to do.
August 31, 2007
A well reasoned attempt to say everything several social theorists, political scientists, ethnographer, and psychologists suspect but are loathe to admit. Bloom's book offers a look at social theory and the intrinsicly interconnected nature of sentient psychology, behavior, and physical result. Why is depresssion linked to creativity? Why do economies boom in short periods of warfare? Why do trends seem to move and spread in ways that seem utterly fantastic?
The answer -- that we are all participants of and influenced by a socio-behavioral group mind called a "superorganism" -- is laid down rationally, passionately and with perfect earnest.
It is a profoundly unsettling book.
The answer -- that we are all participants of and influenced by a socio-behavioral group mind called a "superorganism" -- is laid down rationally, passionately and with perfect earnest.
It is a profoundly unsettling book.
March 8, 2009
A semi-heretical look at our curious species using sociobiology, meme theory, and facts that don’t fit well into consensus reality (did you know that tuberculosis cases declined by 97% between 1800 and 1945 — before antibiotics came into the picture?). Bloom believes that like ants, bees, and slime molds, human beings join as individuals into assemblages of distributed pseudo-tissue in a larger “superorganism” — and that the traits of this superorganism are the understudied key to our history and destiny.
July 19, 2022
It's been almost 20 years since I read the Lucifer Principle. At the time, it was an eye-opening book that was the most sober and lucid analysis of "evil", and what we call evil, that I had ever read. I still can't recall anything that was quite so effective at dispelling as many societal myths at once, and at bringing together so many seemingly unrelated concepts into a coherent picture. I read this at a turning point in my life, when I was becoming more curious about the world beyond my immediate interests. It was a great way to dive into the complexity of some of the big problems we still grapple with today.
This was the book that introduced me to the concept of the meme, (Dawkins's meme, not the devolved social media variant) and it has ever since stuck with me. Memetic theory provides Bloom a useful framework for understanding much of the growing, dynamic, changing nature of human knowledge, interaction, and belief. It's hard to observe our world now, shaped so drastically as it is by the fickle, reflexive clicks of social media, and not see the prescience in this analysis, and the importance of memes in spreading base sentiment and groupthink. This book also marks the starting point for my thinking seriously about tribalism. Bloom's look at the tribal nature of human beings, in all its tarnished glory, showed me how false beliefs, particularly those that appeal to our tribal affiliations and articles of faith and sense of social belonging, can propagate and become orthodoxy, despite being wrong. The relevance of this seems greater today than when it was written in 1997.
At the biological level, much of what we've come to call evil is the product of either a survival mechanism, a coping mechanism, or some mundane product of evolution, human nature, and other not-so-obvious forces. Rarely do acts of egregious violence or policies with dire consequences come about because someone somewhere wanted to watch the world burn and to see his victims suffer. Many things that spring up of virtuous causes have had unimaginable consequences. Social movements throughout history, and clearly social movements at their peak today, have come about in response to perceived evils and have produced their own destructive brand of nearly equivalent problems. But it goes beyond the subject of evil and is a tour of all the complexity of human and animal life, from the roles of genes to the procreation push toward violence, to war, to power, greed, and conventional "evils" that are merely parts of our machinery and programming.
Bloom's book is well researched. He takes us to distant cultures and obscure locales, and cites a convincing mix of social science, biology, and philosophy, to demonstrate that evils we think are peculiar to Western civilization, or dominant cultures, or the first world, or serial killers, or men, are in fact human universals, even animal universals, deriving more from the basic nature of living, surviving beings, than the spark of a metaphysical devil. He dispels the myth that a world or a society run by women would be any more peaceful than one run by men. He takes a crack at the pulsating plague of ideology in many of its forms, and accounts for how combating ideologies also have combating views of what is evil. His analysis of violence and its relevance through time is something today I would find unremarkable, but before my dive into world history it was a profound thing to learn.
It's a unique book that does not soften its blows with politically correct platitudes and filler. There's a lot I've forgotten in this book, and may revisit it one day. I recall there being some less sound arguments and unconvincing segments, but nothing that subverted Bloom's thesis. Many of the ideas that I first became aware of through reading this book have stuck with me in some form, have proven to be salient models for comprehending our complicated world, and have influenced how I analyze many contemporary issues.
This was the book that introduced me to the concept of the meme, (Dawkins's meme, not the devolved social media variant) and it has ever since stuck with me. Memetic theory provides Bloom a useful framework for understanding much of the growing, dynamic, changing nature of human knowledge, interaction, and belief. It's hard to observe our world now, shaped so drastically as it is by the fickle, reflexive clicks of social media, and not see the prescience in this analysis, and the importance of memes in spreading base sentiment and groupthink. This book also marks the starting point for my thinking seriously about tribalism. Bloom's look at the tribal nature of human beings, in all its tarnished glory, showed me how false beliefs, particularly those that appeal to our tribal affiliations and articles of faith and sense of social belonging, can propagate and become orthodoxy, despite being wrong. The relevance of this seems greater today than when it was written in 1997.
At the biological level, much of what we've come to call evil is the product of either a survival mechanism, a coping mechanism, or some mundane product of evolution, human nature, and other not-so-obvious forces. Rarely do acts of egregious violence or policies with dire consequences come about because someone somewhere wanted to watch the world burn and to see his victims suffer. Many things that spring up of virtuous causes have had unimaginable consequences. Social movements throughout history, and clearly social movements at their peak today, have come about in response to perceived evils and have produced their own destructive brand of nearly equivalent problems. But it goes beyond the subject of evil and is a tour of all the complexity of human and animal life, from the roles of genes to the procreation push toward violence, to war, to power, greed, and conventional "evils" that are merely parts of our machinery and programming.
Bloom's book is well researched. He takes us to distant cultures and obscure locales, and cites a convincing mix of social science, biology, and philosophy, to demonstrate that evils we think are peculiar to Western civilization, or dominant cultures, or the first world, or serial killers, or men, are in fact human universals, even animal universals, deriving more from the basic nature of living, surviving beings, than the spark of a metaphysical devil. He dispels the myth that a world or a society run by women would be any more peaceful than one run by men. He takes a crack at the pulsating plague of ideology in many of its forms, and accounts for how combating ideologies also have combating views of what is evil. His analysis of violence and its relevance through time is something today I would find unremarkable, but before my dive into world history it was a profound thing to learn.
It's a unique book that does not soften its blows with politically correct platitudes and filler. There's a lot I've forgotten in this book, and may revisit it one day. I recall there being some less sound arguments and unconvincing segments, but nothing that subverted Bloom's thesis. Many of the ideas that I first became aware of through reading this book have stuck with me in some form, have proven to be salient models for comprehending our complicated world, and have influenced how I analyze many contemporary issues.
March 2, 2008
This is an excellent example of a book that is worth reading not because it proves an audacious thesis but because it proposes it in the first place. Howard Bloom takes five concepts (1: self-organizing replicators; 2: the superorganism; 3: the meme [a self-replicating cluster of ideas]; 4: the neural net; and 5: the pecking order) and uses them as the basis of a naturalistic, biological theory of evil. Whatever you end up thinking about his theory, it's instructive to *think* about it! A provocative book!
February 23, 2022
Every once in a while there’s a book that keeps cropping up in conversations that I have with friends, and The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom is one of them. And I’m glad I picked it up. If Lyall Watson’s Supernature made an impact on you, then there’s a good chance you’re going to gobble up Bloom. In essence, the author offers a broad-sweeping yet thought-provoking Theory of Everything, with a vast collection of ideas and factoids that have been doing the rounds for ages.
Except, let’s take not at *what* Bloom’s saying but *how* he’s saying it and *why* he’s saying it in this glorious mash-up of history, psychology and biology. At the heart of it, Bloom looks at mankind’s innate propensity toward violence. He identifies in our behaviour similarities between other mammals. He discusses how a relatively “new” concept – the meme – goes about arranging individuals into groupings labelled as superorganisms. But if you look at the bigger picture, we ourselves, as beings are superorganisms consisting of many billions of cells.
Just as individuals will compete for resources and mates, so do superorganisms, such nations or religions. Bloom investigates what allows these to wax and wane, and discusses the motivations for conflict. Nothing he puts forward here is groundbreaking, but what makes this book important is *why* he’s stating the obvious.
Bloom spends considerable time discussing US vs. Islamic conflict and, considering *when* the book was first published (1995) this is quite ironic considering the occurrences a mere five years after publication. He highlights the dangers of a complacent West sticking its head in the sand, and stresses the danger of nations under the sway of militant religious fundamentalists.
According to Bloom, “evil” is inherent in our natures, very much encoded in our genetic make-up and, while I appreciate the exhaustive illustrations of the problem, I do feel he could have offered more by the way of solutions. That being said, this book is definitely one that needs to be read if we are to make others understand the importance of rational solutions to age-old problems. Yes, the author writes with a highly opinionated tone, and he’s full of rage, but he’s one of the few so far as I can see who isn’t afraid to call us out on what’s wrong with society today – and has been wrong since we first climbed down from the trees.
You *don’t* need to agree with this man, but I do believe his voice needs to be heard, especially in the light of so many people screaming ignorance in the media today.
FRESH REVIEW, 23 FEB 2022
This isn't my first dance with Howard Bloom's The Lucifer Principle, and as always when revisiting a book, often the biggest change will be in the reader, and how they parse the content years down the road. This time, I picked up the audiobook masterfully narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner, and found myself sufficiently entertained.
Despite the book's provocative title, there's really nothing at all 'evil' per se, but rather an exploration of what we might consider the negative aspects of our mammalian existence as being hardwired into our genes. Despite fancy clothes and a liking for technology, we're not at all that different from our great ape cousins.
Bloom wears his influences on his sleeve, and it's pretty clear from the get go that he's a big fan of Richard Dawkins, and although he's no Nobel-prize-winning scientist, his music publicist background has most certainly given him the gift of the gab – he writes persuasively on a broad range of topics, and he is a keen observer of human nature.
So, while you're not going to be sitting with a strict, non-fiction book, The Lucifer Principle is very much a thought-provoking read. One needn't agree with everything that the man says, but he does raise points about our behaviour that are topical and controversial.
While the idea that we form part of a giant 'superorganism' isn't a new one, Bloom does dig into how individuals function within society – touching on how important it is that we need to feel needed, and be part of the machine, so to speak. And we look at how we've shifted away from replication of genes to replication of memes, in terms of building communities.
If I'm entirely honest, the book is a bit of a hot mess, with a mish-mash of cherry-picked data mixed in with the author's hot takes – but it still makes for compelling reading, whether you think the man is a genius or that he's clearly smoking his socks.
If anything, this is is the sort of book you can use to pick topics for conversation starters at parties if you want to end up with a brawl and broken beer bottles. But that being said, if you take Bloom's writing with a huge dollop of salt, there is a grain of truth underlying much of what he says – but it's advisable for readers to use this as a springboard for further research and formation of their own opinions instead of relying on Bloom's broad, sweeping statements, as entertaining as they are.
I'd bet that Bloom is a great guy to invite over for a social gathering – it's abundantly evident that the man is in possession of a lively mind, even if the conclusions he draws can be a tad bit contentious.
My takeaway is that while this book is filled with interesting anecdotes, it also drives home the truth for me that we, as a species, can do better. We do not have to shackle ourselves to our genetic predispositions and outmoded, outdated societal mores.
Except, let’s take not at *what* Bloom’s saying but *how* he’s saying it and *why* he’s saying it in this glorious mash-up of history, psychology and biology. At the heart of it, Bloom looks at mankind’s innate propensity toward violence. He identifies in our behaviour similarities between other mammals. He discusses how a relatively “new” concept – the meme – goes about arranging individuals into groupings labelled as superorganisms. But if you look at the bigger picture, we ourselves, as beings are superorganisms consisting of many billions of cells.
Just as individuals will compete for resources and mates, so do superorganisms, such nations or religions. Bloom investigates what allows these to wax and wane, and discusses the motivations for conflict. Nothing he puts forward here is groundbreaking, but what makes this book important is *why* he’s stating the obvious.
Bloom spends considerable time discussing US vs. Islamic conflict and, considering *when* the book was first published (1995) this is quite ironic considering the occurrences a mere five years after publication. He highlights the dangers of a complacent West sticking its head in the sand, and stresses the danger of nations under the sway of militant religious fundamentalists.
According to Bloom, “evil” is inherent in our natures, very much encoded in our genetic make-up and, while I appreciate the exhaustive illustrations of the problem, I do feel he could have offered more by the way of solutions. That being said, this book is definitely one that needs to be read if we are to make others understand the importance of rational solutions to age-old problems. Yes, the author writes with a highly opinionated tone, and he’s full of rage, but he’s one of the few so far as I can see who isn’t afraid to call us out on what’s wrong with society today – and has been wrong since we first climbed down from the trees.
You *don’t* need to agree with this man, but I do believe his voice needs to be heard, especially in the light of so many people screaming ignorance in the media today.
FRESH REVIEW, 23 FEB 2022
This isn't my first dance with Howard Bloom's The Lucifer Principle, and as always when revisiting a book, often the biggest change will be in the reader, and how they parse the content years down the road. This time, I picked up the audiobook masterfully narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner, and found myself sufficiently entertained.
Despite the book's provocative title, there's really nothing at all 'evil' per se, but rather an exploration of what we might consider the negative aspects of our mammalian existence as being hardwired into our genes. Despite fancy clothes and a liking for technology, we're not at all that different from our great ape cousins.
Bloom wears his influences on his sleeve, and it's pretty clear from the get go that he's a big fan of Richard Dawkins, and although he's no Nobel-prize-winning scientist, his music publicist background has most certainly given him the gift of the gab – he writes persuasively on a broad range of topics, and he is a keen observer of human nature.
So, while you're not going to be sitting with a strict, non-fiction book, The Lucifer Principle is very much a thought-provoking read. One needn't agree with everything that the man says, but he does raise points about our behaviour that are topical and controversial.
While the idea that we form part of a giant 'superorganism' isn't a new one, Bloom does dig into how individuals function within society – touching on how important it is that we need to feel needed, and be part of the machine, so to speak. And we look at how we've shifted away from replication of genes to replication of memes, in terms of building communities.
If I'm entirely honest, the book is a bit of a hot mess, with a mish-mash of cherry-picked data mixed in with the author's hot takes – but it still makes for compelling reading, whether you think the man is a genius or that he's clearly smoking his socks.
If anything, this is is the sort of book you can use to pick topics for conversation starters at parties if you want to end up with a brawl and broken beer bottles. But that being said, if you take Bloom's writing with a huge dollop of salt, there is a grain of truth underlying much of what he says – but it's advisable for readers to use this as a springboard for further research and formation of their own opinions instead of relying on Bloom's broad, sweeping statements, as entertaining as they are.
I'd bet that Bloom is a great guy to invite over for a social gathering – it's abundantly evident that the man is in possession of a lively mind, even if the conclusions he draws can be a tad bit contentious.
My takeaway is that while this book is filled with interesting anecdotes, it also drives home the truth for me that we, as a species, can do better. We do not have to shackle ourselves to our genetic predispositions and outmoded, outdated societal mores.
March 1, 2013
Bloom is a proponent of "group selection theory" (as opposed to "individual selection" theorists such as Dawkins et al), and as such, he sees the social group as the main subject concerning the evolution of the human species. He examines the apparent relationships between genes, behavior, and culture, and proposes that what people call "evil" is nothing more than a by-product of nature's strategies for creation. Violent competition (which we may see implemented through natural selection) is a central mechanism to create what he deems as a "superorganism". Humanity is the superorganism under consideration in this book, and it rises a level above the simplistic genetic evolution of our species. Human cultural development involved the natural selection of particular psychological traits (which support particular cultural characteristics). Through the propagation and replication of memes (a term coined by the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins), we see how the human superorganism has developed, with both the cultural similarities and their differences largely a result of these memes. From an individual's point of view, the selection processes that involve one group competing with another, are deemed "evil" even though the creation of the human species and the human superorganism are a result of these very processes. As a moral relativist, I appreciate the main message in this book, that is, that one man's "God" is another man's "Devil", and if these seemingly "evil" processes are responsible for the eventual evolution of our species, then they are ingrained in the fabric of our biology and being -- and thus appear to have been a necessary evil. Overall, I thought that the book was a good read. From a broader perspective of this book, I think it's important that people examine the evidence for group selection theory and see how they relate to and complement those of individual selection.
July 21, 2010
Can I give a book 4.5 stars? This book was a really neat read, yet I don't QUITE want to give it five. The basis for "The Lucifer Principle" is how violence has played a role in human history and the evolution of culture(s). I don't actually AGREE with all of it, and I actively disagree in several places. Still, it was well written, well argued and generally made me think. So why don't I want to give it five stars? Well, there are the couple of chapters in the middle where the arguments fail and that entire section turns in to "kill all the Muslims before they get us first." Since the book was written before 911, I can't even blame this illogical ranting on post-WTC hysteria, so I'm not sure what was up here. Its like someone entirely different wrote 2 chapters and stuck them in when the main author wasn't looking. Still, all in all a fun read if you are okay with moral ambiguity.
March 6, 2019
I originally picked this up because Grant Morrison recommended this to Comicbookgirl19 and it sounded like something that might've be interesting to read. Once I began to actually read this, however, it was super boring because nothing in this was new to me, at least nothing that was really important. Maybe I didn't know all of the ancedotes, but the ultimate points being made were things I already knew of, or already even believed. And the writing style wasn't really for me, it felt like the author was talking down to me, and considering this was info I've already heard before, it just sort of put me off. When this originally came out (1990-something), I'm sure it was really original, and if you aren't into alternative believes, it still might be to some people. I, however, believe in a lot of woo-woo stuff so this just did nothing for me. Pretty disappointed, tbh, but I guess I shouldn't have gone in with expectations in the first place.
February 22, 2014
It started out great! then it crashed down... I really feel sad because at first I thought "PHEWWWWWWWW! A good philosophy book, the first ever since Camus's La pest, a year and a half ago" But now, I am envelopped with great misery because this book didn't work out for me :(
Some arguments weren't, even if he was right, sufficiently justified.
At other times, he gave sooooo many examples and names of searchers and scientists that his own argument gets lost and absorbed into the so many examples. You just lose the argument.
At first, I thought this is a sarcastic person, and I love sarcasm in books, then he turned towards this person who, at the end of each chapter, will conclude his point of view with that "epic" highly ridiculous sentence.
I really tried to love you, little book, I did :( and it feels me with great chagrin that I didn't :(
Some arguments weren't, even if he was right, sufficiently justified.
At other times, he gave sooooo many examples and names of searchers and scientists that his own argument gets lost and absorbed into the so many examples. You just lose the argument.
At first, I thought this is a sarcastic person, and I love sarcasm in books, then he turned towards this person who, at the end of each chapter, will conclude his point of view with that "epic" highly ridiculous sentence.
I really tried to love you, little book, I did :( and it feels me with great chagrin that I didn't :(
November 26, 2009
I understand more about the forces that drive mankind. Bloom explains his theory of pecking order, memes and superorganisms. He explains why he thinks there are wars and why people want to be on top ( of the pecking order). It is another side of understanding why civilizations are constantly at each others throats.
April 10, 2022
David Sloan Wilson (a prominent advocate for group selection theory now called multi-level selection theory) acknowledges in the introduction that a great deal of this work is rampant speculation. Subsequently, I have done my best to forgive a lot of the now glaring inaccuracies or errant predictions. Moreover, I appreciate that Howard Bloom presented a more clear-eyed perspective on human nature than those popular today among many academics and elites. Namely, that Thomas Hobbes was a lot closer to the mark than Jean-Jacques Rousseau (or at least to the popular and received understandings of these thinkers).
The real drawback to the work is that there have been significant advances in various fields that have enhanced our understanding of these questions (an evo psych analysis of "the question of evil" and human nature more broadly). Coincidentally enough, another Bloom, Paul Bloom (unrelated), has taken on this task of explaining how evolutionary forces likely shape(d) human nature. His work covers cooperation and compassion, innate morality, and self-fulfillment/happiness.
As someone with a background in genetics and an interest in evolutionary fields, it is hard to ignore flippant dismissals of kin selection theory and selfish gene model, while overextending theories of cultural evolution by meme. Kin selection or inclusive fitness theories of evolution are still favored over group or multi-level selection theories. The evidentiary record and modeling is just more consistent with this view, but this issue isn't entirely settled either. It is just difficult to get around that selection has indeed acted on individual loci even in human populations and that humans are not part of some super-organism even if that metaphor aptly describes the dynamics of some social institutions or arrangements. And gene-culture co-evolution and memetics is a complex and very active research area and debate. For careful discussions of the supporting evidence and active research see the work of Joseph Henrich.
But given all these caveats, if you're someone curious about the development of ideas that would eventually be popularized by many members of the intellectual dark web (IDW) and similarly styled thinkers, then this is definitely a book for you. Howard Bloom is sort of an embryonic version of Nassim Taleb minus the quant side crossed with Jordan Peterson minus the Christian existentialism then with a weird mismash of the evolutionary theories of Richard Dawkins and E.O. Wilson.
The real drawback to the work is that there have been significant advances in various fields that have enhanced our understanding of these questions (an evo psych analysis of "the question of evil" and human nature more broadly). Coincidentally enough, another Bloom, Paul Bloom (unrelated), has taken on this task of explaining how evolutionary forces likely shape(d) human nature. His work covers cooperation and compassion, innate morality, and self-fulfillment/happiness.
As someone with a background in genetics and an interest in evolutionary fields, it is hard to ignore flippant dismissals of kin selection theory and selfish gene model, while overextending theories of cultural evolution by meme. Kin selection or inclusive fitness theories of evolution are still favored over group or multi-level selection theories. The evidentiary record and modeling is just more consistent with this view, but this issue isn't entirely settled either. It is just difficult to get around that selection has indeed acted on individual loci even in human populations and that humans are not part of some super-organism even if that metaphor aptly describes the dynamics of some social institutions or arrangements. And gene-culture co-evolution and memetics is a complex and very active research area and debate. For careful discussions of the supporting evidence and active research see the work of Joseph Henrich.
But given all these caveats, if you're someone curious about the development of ideas that would eventually be popularized by many members of the intellectual dark web (IDW) and similarly styled thinkers, then this is definitely a book for you. Howard Bloom is sort of an embryonic version of Nassim Taleb minus the quant side crossed with Jordan Peterson minus the Christian existentialism then with a weird mismash of the evolutionary theories of Richard Dawkins and E.O. Wilson.
March 30, 2019
This is truly an excellent read, and compels one to reexamine their thoughts on many a subject. Even if you disagree with his premise and/or his conclusions, it should still cause you to reflect on what you know, or what you think you know, even if its just to simply to reaffirm your own notions.
I think that the primary detractors of this book are simply uncomfortable with the fact that Mr. Bloom here is essentially providing justification for why Humanity has done, and continues to do, some of the terrible things that it has done in the name of the "group selection theory" of evolution. Essentially, that there is no evil, nor good, that there is just nature attempting to create genes which are more survivable with each generation.
Whilst the end of the book begins to delve into American ethnocentrism and decries many Islamic nations as the next "barbarians" that the current empires must face, I believe that the preceding pages did set up the reasoning for why he draws those conclusions. I think that many 21st Americans are simply uncomfortable with such phrases and concepts as it draws upon what we consider to be racist stereotypes and the like, but he's using the terms and phrases in their historical context here, to illustrate the comparisons.
I especially like his breakdown of the "truths" behind the concepts of "freedom," "justice," and "liberty" as this has become particularly well-illustrated to me as of late, as I've seen nothing but revenge in the eyes of all who seek to stamp their own views on the world.
I think that the primary detractors of this book are simply uncomfortable with the fact that Mr. Bloom here is essentially providing justification for why Humanity has done, and continues to do, some of the terrible things that it has done in the name of the "group selection theory" of evolution. Essentially, that there is no evil, nor good, that there is just nature attempting to create genes which are more survivable with each generation.
Whilst the end of the book begins to delve into American ethnocentrism and decries many Islamic nations as the next "barbarians" that the current empires must face, I believe that the preceding pages did set up the reasoning for why he draws those conclusions. I think that many 21st Americans are simply uncomfortable with such phrases and concepts as it draws upon what we consider to be racist stereotypes and the like, but he's using the terms and phrases in their historical context here, to illustrate the comparisons.
I especially like his breakdown of the "truths" behind the concepts of "freedom," "justice," and "liberty" as this has become particularly well-illustrated to me as of late, as I've seen nothing but revenge in the eyes of all who seek to stamp their own views on the world.
April 20, 2021
Racist, sexist, classist, and anti-Muslim. This book starts off without defining its main point: what is the Lucifer principle? I still do not know. Instead this book focuses on positing that human beings are super organisms and this act certain ways that our morality has determined to be “evil” but that are normal parts of animals nature. The last third of the book focuses on why America is better at preventing evil through its child rearing practices and “clear” lack of significant organized in-country violence. It also focuses on why Islam and Arab culture in particular is a super created of evil through its questionable parenting and love practices. Not well researched or presented, makes broad generalizations and sweeping statements without evidence to support, and again is incredibly sexist racist classist, religion-ist. I would NOT recommend
July 22, 2008
Written like a sophomoric college student who is simply trying to impress you with what he thinks he knows, this book drones on and on about the forces shaping human behavior without providing much more than anecdote to support it. Pedantic and uninspired.
May 4, 2024
Darwin meets Dawkins meets Harari !
The could be misleading to what the book is trying to convey. Had it been written in english victorian era, a more fitting title would be : A bioevolutionary inquiry into human nature.
Right of the bat, Howard Bloom started with some examples of what human nature isn't and it certainly isn't good.
From the comfort of their 18th century bourgeois lifestyles, JJ Rousseau ( humans are born pure and are perverted by society ) and John Locke ( humans are born a blank slate) didn't know any better. For the contemporary readers they have no excuse whatsoever, go watch some freaking national geographic !
You'd hear at times that mischief and violence in any given specie is male driven. Thing that is dismissed and rightfully so by Howard Bloom by many examples of sexual selection and malicious behaviours females could do to give their progenitures a social / existential edge.
The author build up then what I consider a brilliant synthesis explaining the causes and manifestations of "tribalism" and how they heavily influence for the better and the worst human behaviour.
The thesis starts with introducing Dawkins' selfish gene, and then argue that it is anything but selfish. Many animals observed in nature would make sacrifices with their own life to assure better outcomes for their offsprings.
Also it is proven in many cases that animals have no loyalty for their specie as a whole but only to their tribes and close relatives. And that's why humans in general gained and edge over other species by their capacity of collaboration and not killing each other over a big range of tribes.
Once again, Howard Bloom will base his argument on the Dawkinian meme theory, as an unifying agent that had successfully reunited humans in its quest for territories and resources, but which also lead to many atrocities in the name of ideologies.
A dear depiction to my heart of the meme theory, is Yuval Noah Harari's "myth" in Sapiens. In my opinion, he made the best job explaining the rise and consequences of human collaboration in simpler terms and better than anyone before.
The book went acutely downhill from there and became straight up rubbish outraging propaganda.
The author seemed to have no difficulty in finding plethora of examples from Christianity,Islam, Hinduism and others of downsides of spreading of memes.
It always came back to civilizations and religions oppressing and stealing from the poor Jews.
Judaism as a religion is as tribalistic and ethno centric as any other religion could be. But no mention of that, Howard Bloom choose instead to focus on what wrong deeds were the camels herders doing in the Arabian deserts.
For someone who choose to take a hard cold look into human nature, he didn't seemed bothered to look into himself first.
5/5 for the biological fact based first part of the book, and 1/5 for the propaganda heavy, blatant lies and nuance-less analysis done on the second part of the book =====> 3/5
The could be misleading to what the book is trying to convey. Had it been written in english victorian era, a more fitting title would be : A bioevolutionary inquiry into human nature.
Right of the bat, Howard Bloom started with some examples of what human nature isn't and it certainly isn't good.
From the comfort of their 18th century bourgeois lifestyles, JJ Rousseau ( humans are born pure and are perverted by society ) and John Locke ( humans are born a blank slate) didn't know any better. For the contemporary readers they have no excuse whatsoever, go watch some freaking national geographic !
You'd hear at times that mischief and violence in any given specie is male driven. Thing that is dismissed and rightfully so by Howard Bloom by many examples of sexual selection and malicious behaviours females could do to give their progenitures a social / existential edge.
The author build up then what I consider a brilliant synthesis explaining the causes and manifestations of "tribalism" and how they heavily influence for the better and the worst human behaviour.
The thesis starts with introducing Dawkins' selfish gene, and then argue that it is anything but selfish. Many animals observed in nature would make sacrifices with their own life to assure better outcomes for their offsprings.
Also it is proven in many cases that animals have no loyalty for their specie as a whole but only to their tribes and close relatives. And that's why humans in general gained and edge over other species by their capacity of collaboration and not killing each other over a big range of tribes.
Once again, Howard Bloom will base his argument on the Dawkinian meme theory, as an unifying agent that had successfully reunited humans in its quest for territories and resources, but which also lead to many atrocities in the name of ideologies.
A dear depiction to my heart of the meme theory, is Yuval Noah Harari's "myth" in Sapiens. In my opinion, he made the best job explaining the rise and consequences of human collaboration in simpler terms and better than anyone before.
The book went acutely downhill from there and became straight up rubbish outraging propaganda.
The author seemed to have no difficulty in finding plethora of examples from Christianity,Islam, Hinduism and others of downsides of spreading of memes.
It always came back to civilizations and religions oppressing and stealing from the poor Jews.
Judaism as a religion is as tribalistic and ethno centric as any other religion could be. But no mention of that, Howard Bloom choose instead to focus on what wrong deeds were the camels herders doing in the Arabian deserts.
For someone who choose to take a hard cold look into human nature, he didn't seemed bothered to look into himself first.
5/5 for the biological fact based first part of the book, and 1/5 for the propaganda heavy, blatant lies and nuance-less analysis done on the second part of the book =====> 3/5
January 14, 2012
It was an excellent read that is definitely not for the sensitive-minded. It did not dive too much into personal feelings of each individual in the world; it focused more on life with humans as a greater being, or as the author put it, super organism. I was delighted to incorporate this new way of thinking about the human species and what it really says about our origins as well as what it will say about our future. I do not believe a single sentence in this book was sugar-coated so make sure that you are well-prepared to experience something that may stray from your person belief(s).
I would recommend this book as a necessity in grade schools around the country and world. It is excellent and helps bring a bit of the "larger" and "actual" pictures in to play when most of us get caught up in our instinctual behaviors without care as to why. I would not say that this book necessarily says that all religions are wrong but it does bring light to many good points that not all religions have a basis that is moral and is centered on what "followers" believe they are following. It is just interesting and I would suggest that everyone take the time to read it, reflect upon it, and move on with their life with a slightly altered and hopefully much more opened mind.
I would recommend this book as a necessity in grade schools around the country and world. It is excellent and helps bring a bit of the "larger" and "actual" pictures in to play when most of us get caught up in our instinctual behaviors without care as to why. I would not say that this book necessarily says that all religions are wrong but it does bring light to many good points that not all religions have a basis that is moral and is centered on what "followers" believe they are following. It is just interesting and I would suggest that everyone take the time to read it, reflect upon it, and move on with their life with a slightly altered and hopefully much more opened mind.
January 20, 2016
In between ravings about homoeopathy and inaccurate descriptions of what a neural net is and what it can do the book is just a random hotchpotch of musings with no clear aim. Not sure what the message is but the author sure tries to hammer it home by repeating himself ad nauseam. It's like listening in to a pub conversation. You are drunk Mr Bloom, go home.
Lucifer Principle Drinking Game:
Drink every time you read "pecking order" or "superorganism".
If you see "superorganismic pecking order" down your drink.
Lucifer Principle Drinking Game:
Drink every time you read "pecking order" or "superorganism".
If you see "superorganismic pecking order" down your drink.
January 28, 2018
I picked this book up a number of years ago and was fascinated with his ideas. Now that I have I read it, I have to say it was not well put together. I found his thought to be scattered at times and pieced together using fragments of history and psychology that were not thoroughly researched. I do not doubt that he is a highly intelligent individual, however this work did not further my curiosity or knowledge as I had hoped.
October 12, 2007
This book contains God's Own Truth about memetic evolution and its role in the development of modern society. Religions, governments, social groups as social superorganism. You may or may not end up liking this conclusion. You may even reject it. You'll still be wrong, because Bloom is dead on right.
February 1, 2009
Although Bloom makes some interesting points, I'm not sure I agree with most of his positions. His politics tend to show through a bit. Read it if you're looking for an interesting historical perspective, but I wouldn't use it as a definitive reference.
September 25, 2007
A comprehensive review of mother nature's amoral stance and how she grants us these evil impulses to drive evolution. A voluminous tome, excellent for beating hobos to death with.
November 1, 2020
This is not going to be a book to make you comfortable, but it is one of those rare, necessary reads.
May 28, 2019
The Lucifer Principle weaves a well-written and compelling narrative that is bound to shock the reader out of her ideological stupour. This style provides a healthy immunization against some of the illusions and self-deceptions that we all, by nature and education, live under. Thus broken free from dogmas, Bloom jolts the reader to freely exploring the link between dominance hierarchies, violence, genes, memes, and social groups. Shockingly, he shows how the very same passion that cures cancer and unites tribes often amplifies our self-righteousness into a blinding plea for world domination.
The book is well-researched and contains numerous fascinating and illustrative stories from history. At the same time, it suffers from a selective exposition of facts presented with a strong interpretative slant. I did not like the anti-Islamic rants that went on for way too long. And I did not like the many dubious empirical generalisations that appeared one-sided and based on anecdotal evidence. I concur with David S. Wilson's estimation, in the foreword, that Bloom has a tendency to exaggerate. This undermines the reliability of some of the scientific claims of the book.
However, Bloom's cynical and pessimistic lens magnifies humanity's dark side in a way that is illuminating; not only of our capacity for evil, but also of the capacity for goodness and excellence in the same human organism. The takeaway lesson, if there is one, is therefore ambivalent.
The pitfalls of the Lucifer Principle are ever present in our struggle to self-transcend our animal nature. And yet continually self-transcend we must. To reach for the stars and to perpetuate evolution is a bloody, violent, stressful affair. But without the parade of violence we call human history we inevitably face the heat death of the universe. Bloom's book, for me, suggests ways in which we can break free from social submission and avoid the pacifying pull of entropy - and, crucially, how to do it without succumbing to the worst conquering and genocidal illusions of humanity.
The book is well-researched and contains numerous fascinating and illustrative stories from history. At the same time, it suffers from a selective exposition of facts presented with a strong interpretative slant. I did not like the anti-Islamic rants that went on for way too long. And I did not like the many dubious empirical generalisations that appeared one-sided and based on anecdotal evidence. I concur with David S. Wilson's estimation, in the foreword, that Bloom has a tendency to exaggerate. This undermines the reliability of some of the scientific claims of the book.
However, Bloom's cynical and pessimistic lens magnifies humanity's dark side in a way that is illuminating; not only of our capacity for evil, but also of the capacity for goodness and excellence in the same human organism. The takeaway lesson, if there is one, is therefore ambivalent.
The pitfalls of the Lucifer Principle are ever present in our struggle to self-transcend our animal nature. And yet continually self-transcend we must. To reach for the stars and to perpetuate evolution is a bloody, violent, stressful affair. But without the parade of violence we call human history we inevitably face the heat death of the universe. Bloom's book, for me, suggests ways in which we can break free from social submission and avoid the pacifying pull of entropy - and, crucially, how to do it without succumbing to the worst conquering and genocidal illusions of humanity.
May 15, 2021
The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom, I'm not sure if I can frame it in a clear short manner but I'll try Societies form into Super Organism based on Meme's (ideals) and pecking orders we are ruled subconsciously by our deepers fears our lizard brains and that is what drives the Super Organism. He gave lots and lots of examples and charted how events throughout history and across the globe were driven by the social physics that relates to these forces. How it works in Primates and how it works in nature and how it works in groups of individuals. So in essence it's like a formula to power and control sex and dominance top of the heap sort of manual for nations do this and survival and dominance in the pecking order is more likely fail to do this and you will probably end up dead your lands conquered your progeny killed or enslaved. He doesn't predict how pax-Americana is going to end up but I get the strong impression that he doesn't give good odds of us not being overwhelmed by this Principle same as every other Super Organism top of the pecking order nation that went before us. Unabridged informative and comprehensive kind of a clear eyed look at our slide down the pecking order why are things going to hell in a handbasket you might ask it's the Lucifer Principal at work. four star read.
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