The Lucifer principle : a scientific expedition into the forces of history

517 Pages·1997·2.12 MB·English

by  Bloom

THE LUCIFER PRINCIPLE
THE LUCIFER
PRINCIPLE
A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History
HOWARD BLOOM
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS
NEW YORK
Copyright © 1995 by Howard Bloom
Foreword copyright © 1997 by David Sloan Wilson
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Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint
previously published material: Excerpt from Psychological Care of Infant and
Child by John B. Watson. Copyright © 1928. Published by W. W. Norton.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Excerpt from the Squeeze song “Hits of the Year” by Christopher Difford and
Glenn Tilbrook.
Copyright © 1985 by EMI Virgin Music. Reprinted by permission of EMI
Virgin Music.
Excerpts from Islam and Revolution: Writings and Declarations of Iman
Khomeini. Translated by Hamid Algar. Copyright © 1981. Published by Mizan
Press. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Excerpts from The Reign of the Ayatollah: Iran and the Islamic Revolution by
Shaul Bakash.
Copyright © 1984 by Basic Books. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Excerpt from The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890–
1914 by Barbara Tuchman.
Copyright © 1966 by The Macmillan Company. Reprinted by permission of the
publisher.
Published simultaneously in Canada
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bloom, Howard K., 1943—
The Lucifer principle : a scientific expedition into the forces of history / by
Howard Bloom.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-87113-664-0
eISBN: 978-0-8021-9218-9
1. Man. 2. Evolution. 3. History—Philosophy. 4. Culture.
5. Civilization, Modern—20th century. 6. Good and evil. 7. Devil.
I. Title.
BD450.B526 1995 128—dc20 94-11464
DESIGN BY LAURA HAMMOND HOUGH
Atlantic Monthly Press
an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
th
154 West 14 Street
New York, NY 10011
Distributed by Publishers Group West
www.groveatlantic.com
To Linda Bloom
If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and
it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But
the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And
who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Only through knowledge will we be able . . . to deliver
those with superstitious faith in the omnipotence of violence from their folly.
Fang Lizhi
We have need of history in its entirety, not to fall back into it, but to escape from
it.
Ortega y Gasset
CONTENTS
Foreword
Who Is Lucifer?
The Clint Eastwood Conundrum
The Whole Is Bigger Than the Sum of Its Parts
The Chinese Cultural Revolution
BLOODSTAINS IN PARADISE
Mother Nature, the Bloody Bitch
Women—Not the Peaceful Creatures You Think
Fighting for the Privilege to Procreate
The Greed of Genes
WHY HUMANS SELF-DESTRUCT
The Theory of Individual Selection and Its Flaws
Superorganism
Isolation—the Ultimate Poison
Even Heroes Are Insecure
Loving the Child Within Is Not Enough