The Evolution of Power, and the Power of Education

By Michael Pearson, MAA executive director

Joseph N. Abraham, MD is a Physician, Biologist, Educational Activist, and Natural Philosopher. He is the author of the award-winning Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths: From Alexander to Hitler to the Corporation; the much lighter Happiness: A Physician-Biologist Looks at Life; and is currently writing Darwin, Dada, Dalí, Duke, & Devadevàya.

I was particularly interested in how the “educational activist” label fit into this collection of interests, and what insights into educational practice Joe’s efforts might offer.

I read Kings, Conquerors, Psychopaths (KCP), and was struck by Joe’s analysis of the ways in which power has been historically obtained and exercised. How did we come to accept that those in positions of power and authority can engage in acts of corruption or violence as a matter of course, and at the same time accept that for “ordinary” citizens, these same acts are appropriately met with sanctions up to and including punishment by death? 

And again, what is the role of education in sustaining these relationships, and how can education serve to develop well-informed citizens who can recognize and assess the impact of large-scale social systems for themselves?

Recently, Joe and I struck up a dialogue and found that we share a passion for exploration of similar questions, and acknowledged that these questions don’t come with easy answers. I invited Joe to join me in sharing some of these discussions here.

MP: Joe, tell me what were your initial experiences or insights that led you to pursue the ideas in KCP?

JA: Many years ago, I saw Pasolini’s Medea, starring Maria Callas; in it, Jason and the Argonauts are portrayed as they really were, as marauders, thieves, murderers, and rapists. I also read the quote that I use in the opening to KCP by Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), that Alexander wept when he realized that there were no more people to murder and rob.  

Few things happen only once. So when I see something, in medicine, in biology, or in history, that might be dismissed as an outlier, or even as untrue, I remain skeptical. So I wondered if these stories applied to other ‘great’ men of history. I eventually realized that conquest was, by definition, murder, theft, rape, and broad destruction; and that the king continues this criminal terror in peacetime. And sure enough, as I read I found all of these horrors are right there in the historical records, not for a few men, but for all of them. There is no way to subjugate millions except through horrific brutality.

Then I recognized that, from a medical perspective, that king and conqueror meet the criteria for the ‘dark tetrad’ of psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism, what Erich Fromm named ‘malignant narcissism’, and which he described as “the quintessence of evil.”

From there it didn’t take much to begin seeing that these dysfunctions are woven all through our lives today.  Equally concerning, just as our ancestors blindly believed the monarch, today we see that we are still prone to blindness when confronted with con men such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot. The problem is pressing:  authoritarian, narcissistic leaders seem to be surging around the world, buoyed by popular sentiment that somehow ignores their corruption, abuses, and persecutions.

We have our own worries here in the USA, to the point that a team of psychiatrists were alarmed enough to violate the Goldwater Rule [prohibiting psychiatrists from commenting on those whom they have not personally examined] to publish not one, but two editions of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.  Trump is hardly unique, of course; most of us listen blindly to our preferred politicians, news sources, and celebrities.  Rather, Trump is the extreme case, and as such, he draws extreme concern.

MP: The good news, at least to me, is that there are more sources of information to learn both about the history of violence and oppression, and more of our fellow citizens seem open to learning.

JA:  That’s a good point.  So much of my research was done at my computer, surfing the Internet.  

Your question is also pertinent to one thesis of KCP. All of that freely flowing information is essential to the modern world. Under the king, books, and therefore information, were expensive, and limited. And the limited information that was available conformed to a narrow orthodoxy. New ideas were rare, and were often met with stern resistance, even imprisonment, torture, or execution. So for 10,000 years under the king, progress was very slow, and serendipitous. 

And then, beginning in the Renaissance, and accelerating with the re-emergence of democracy and general prosperity, the world took off. Almost all human technology is less than 100 years old. And it was created only after we limited the powerful, and allowed the middle class to expand, prosper, learn, think, and contribute. Unfortunately, the powerful are on the move again, squeezing the middle class, pushing us toward economic feudalism, and creating systems that threaten to halt progress. The Founders tried to protect us from monarchy, but they did not yet know about monopoly.

MP: So why doesn’t our educational system promote the intellectual development and knowledge base that seems critical to society’s need to effectively address the systemic issues that we so urgently need to address?

JA: In the past, curiosity, intellectual analysis, and criticism could spell ruin and even death; often, a grisly, torturous death. Think of historical religious dissenters, and even philosophical objectors (e.g., Galileo) who risked the rack, the strappado, or even drawing and quartering.  Any child who said that the king was naked would not have been hailed as an honest voice; he might well have been executed on the spot, probably along with his family. So the last thing a parent or a teacher wanted was a child with a healthy, curious mind. 

Modern education begins with the cathedral schools of the Middle Ages, and so educational traditions grew out of Medieval traditions and the admonitions of Augustine of Hippo:  Judgement Day is at hand, so prepare your souls. Worship, submit, and obey. There is no time for anything else.

Judgement Day did not arrive, but Augustine’s dictates nicely served the desires of king and church for mindless minions and bureaucrats. We need to remember that ‘clerk’ and ‘cleric’ are the same word.  

Today we are still saddled with Augustine’s dictates:  memorize, don’t criticize; answer questions, but do not ask them; and do not stick out from the crowd.  

Worship, submit, and obey.

Then when our students arrive at college, we are puzzled why they are mindless drudges, who find our research boring, and who can’t wait to get out of class and out of school.   

MP: In our exchanges over recent months, we’ve raised a number of serious questions around curriculum and assessment, and the relationship between teachers and students, and how they fit within the educational landscape. What are you learning that seems to offer new and better approaches?

JA: From the above ideas, and from my work as an activist in education, for years I asked teachers, professors, administrators, school board members, and legislators, “What is education? When is a person educated? What is our end point?” Most of them looked at me blankly; the questions had not been presented to them before.

Then a retired superintendent from the small town of Ville Platte, Louisiana, gave me a working answer: A student is educated when he/she wants to learn more about a subject.

That definition of education, however, raises damning indictments of our educational system. Before children begin school, they all want to learn, they are all curious. But after many years of industrial-grade education, almost none of them retain their curiosity. In fact, students who still want to learn in high school are derided and ostracised: What is a ‘nerd’ but a teenager who is still curious? 

Curiosity and education are natural, we just need to cultivate them. Following centuries of the imperatives from king and church, however, our schools destroy the very thing we need them to cultivate. In the modern democracy, what we need of our workers, our parents, our neighbors, and our citizens, is ‘life-long learning.’ 

Which is simply a complicated way of saying ‘curiosity.’

MP: Tell us how you are developing these ideas for your new book?

JA:  Above, you graciously noted my current book-in-progress, Darwin, Dada, Dalí, Duke, & Devadevàya (5D), which looks at how the patterns of evolution might be applied to other systems, including human progress, and even machine innovation. I am sketching out ideas for the book on my blog, and I am seeking feedback; interested readers are encouraged to leave comments at the bottom of the posts. [http://bookscrounger.com/5d-darwin-dada-dali-duke-devadevaya/]  

KCP and 5D are the first two efforts in a tetralogy, the last of which will focus on education. I needed to lay out KCP to look at the obstacles to education and progress. 

KCP looks at why we don’t analyze and create. 5D will look at patterns by which we might analyze and create. Obviously, both observations are critical for reconsidering education.  

Human progress is moving very fast, and it is accelerating. We assume that our current paradigms will continue to apply to innovation. But our rapid progress means we are constantly searching for new concepts, and it is inevitable that some of those will challenge our current paradigms. The best sources of innovation in education will come from those on the front lines -- committed teachers, forward-looking principals and school administrations, and educational and psychological researchers, working collaboratively with students and parents to bring clarity to educational objectives, and to define the strategies to reach those objectives. 

If we empower students and citizens in their natural ability to learn, analyze, and innovate, then progress will continue to accelerate, and take us to places and situations we cannot even guess at today. There is simply no way to predict innovation and progress. So we just have to strap on our seatbelts and hold on. Maybe for dear life.