Please Help P.Z. Myers Find Altruism! - Evolution News & Views
Evolution News and Views  Please Help P.Z. Myers Find Altruism!
P.Z. Myers, materialistic neuroscientist and blogger at
Pharyngula, is looking for altruism. Responding to my
observation that ideas like altruism can't be caused entirely by
neurochemistry because ideas don't share properties (like
location) with matter, Myers asserted:  ...altruism does have a
location. It's the product of activity in [the] brain. Where
else would it be, floating in the air, in [the] left foot, or
nonexistent?  Let's take a closer look at Myers' idea -- that
altruism, an immaterial idea, is located in the brain. What does
it mean to say that altruism is located in the brain?  If
altruism is located in the brain, then some changes in location
of the brain must, to use a mathematical term, 'map' to changes
in altruism. That is, if you move your brain, you move your
altruism in some discernable way. And 'moving' altruism means
changing its properties. It won't do t