Worst Column Ever by Times Pundit David Brooks: "When the Good Do Bad"

May 21, 2012, 9:04 am by Scientific American: Mind and Brain

Evolutionary psychology, which traces what we do and think to instincts embedded into our ancestors by natural selection, is a dangerous meme. It can make even the smartest intellectuals say not-so-smart things. One is Steven Pinker, whose recent book The Better Angels of Our Nature (Viking Adult, 2011), while in many ways a monumental scholarly achievement, was marred by his commitment to the notion that war is an inherited disease for which civilization is the cure. Another is New York Times columnist David Brooks. I like Brooks for the same reasons that I liked his conservative precursor at the Times , William Safire. Like Safire, Brooks often draws on science for guidance in the realm of politics, and he is unpredictable. Being predictable is a much worse sin for a columnist than being wrong. [More]

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