Muhammad Ali

Evilicious

Marc D. Hauser’s Evilicious provides a science-grounded account of why humans commit extraordinary harms: evil is not a rare defect but an incidental byproduct of a promiscuously connected brain that can fuse desire with denial, reward with punishment, and in-group loyalty with out-group hostility. Drawing on evolution, genetics, neuroscience, and social science, Hauser traces how hormones like testosterone, neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, and genes like MAOA, DRD4, and COMT shape risk, self-control, and the taste for harm, while social dynamics—dehumanization, moral disengagement, bystander effects, and large-scale cooperation—show how everyday aggression can escalate into violence, genocide, or corruption. He argues that our capacity for both great kindness and great cruelty arises from the same core architecture, and that understanding these core ingredients can illuminate moral responsibility, inform policy and law, and equip us to foster a more humane future. A compact, provocative synthesis, the book reveals evil as a predictable, learnable aspect of human nature—and urges us to confront it with science, education, and compassion.

Source: House Oversight Committee