Morality In Incott Baaper's Neuropath By Scott Bakker

2247 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Technology and its effect on society

In times of distress, humanity will overtake rationality in a person. The ability to assess a situation and realize there is no rational way for the human brain to process it is what keeps the humanity in everyone relevant. In Neuropath by Scott Bakker, readers get to understand this through the character of Thomas. Thomas is a psychologist, understanding that the brain controls everything about a person, with the person suspending their conscious decisions to the brain even if they are unaware they are doing so. However, this does not stop Thomas from fighting to maintain his humanity amongst his rationality. Thomas 's career does not cloud his views on what it means to be human and have human emotions, removing the brain and mind from the …show more content…

While he discovers that Neil created this machine based on Thomas’s book and understanding of “The Argument”, Thomas does not expect to see Nora being inflicted by the machine as well. This not only heightens the thriller aspect of the novel, her presence coming as a shock to readers but also shows the way technology can interfere with rationality. Thomas hears Nora confessing her love to him as they are both attached to the machines, however, Thomas cannot accept what she is telling him. He tells Neil: “‘There’s nothing true about this…Nothing. You’re controlling her. Forcing her to love,’” (Bakker, 292). For Thomas to understand this rationally, while still protesting to Neil to let Nora go, shows the humanity that Thomas possess, as well as the consequences of the machine. This shows the strength of Thomas’s humanity, as well as the strength of the technology’s ability to interfere with it. While Thomas is attached to the machine that is stripping his humanity away from him, he still tries to save Nora, ignoring the consequences of his attempts. This is not a rational response and shows that even though rationality is easier, technology cannot just get rid of someone 's humanity. By including this, Bakker is able to display the strength of humanity, as demonstrated by Thomas, while using the TSM to show readers the danger and consequences associated with this technology, as it effectively destroyed Neil’s humanity, and created a desire for him to do the same to those around him. Thomas irrationally accepts the consequences of the TSM, as well as the consequences of his actions while attached to it, proving the depth of his

Show More
Related

  • Overcoming Obstacles In Touching Spirit Bear

    354 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Another source of greatness is difficulty. When any work seems to have required immense force and labour to effect it, the idea is grand” (Edmund Burke).We may not enjoy tremendous obstacles while we’re experiencing them, but when they’re over, we can definitely see the benefits. In Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, the protagonist, Cole, has had to face many obstacles in his life, such as his abusive father, his neglectful mother and his anger. Many people can relate to Cole because they, too, have had many obstacles in their life. Overcoming obstacles makes Cole more empathetic and emotionally stable. Empathy is important because it is what allows humans to be human. Being mentally

    Read More

  • Moral Reasoning by Laura Kaplan

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    The primary issue that was addressed in the Journal article, “Moral Reasoning of MSW Social Workers and the Influence of Education” written by Laura Kaplan, was that social workers make critical decisions on a daily basis that effect others. They influence their clients’ lives through giving timely and appropriate funding to them and their families, through deciding should a family stay together or should they have a better life with another family, or connecting the client with appropriate resources that can enhance their lives. The article addresses data from an array of students from various universities. The researcher posed these questions; “Would social workers use moral reasoning (what is right and what is wrong) more prevalent if it was taught through an individual class during your MSW graduate studies, or if you obtain any other undergraduate degree, or if the ethic course was integrated in the curriculum?”

    Read More

  • The Psychopath Test By Jon Ronson

    1144 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry is a book by Jon Ronson, where he investigates the idea of psychopathy and the many individuals involved. Psychopathy is defined as “a person who is mentally ill, who does not care about other people, and who is usually dangerous or violent.” Ronson visited mental health professionals and psychopaths in order to determine the right way to control the diagnosis of mental health disorders. Throughout the novel, Ronson focuses on three main themes, which are the definition of madness, unnecessary mental diagnoses and the problem with confirmation bias.

    Read More

  • Without Conscience Chapter Summary

    1626 Words  | 4 Pages

    For my book report, I have read and evaluated Dr. Hales book titled Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us, published by The Guilford Press. The purpose of the book was to bring awareness to psychopaths that live among us and will be describe in farther details in the paper. I will evaluated the purpose, strengths, weakness of the book and include a summarized portion for others to understand.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Kohlbergs And Piaget's Morality

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

        The purpose of this paper is to find evidence of Kohlberg 's and Piagets moral stages for adolecents. We are going to ask a teenager a series of different questions in an interview in order to find out where exactly they fit in Kohlberg’s and Piaget’s moral stages and if the fall in the one designated for teenagers, Postconventional and Autonomous morality respectivly. According to these theorist, adolescents are starting to form their own ideas of what is right and wrong and using their ideals to see what they would do in certain situations.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Inside The Mind Of A Psychopath

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hare states in his book without conscious: the disturbing world of psychopaths among us. An in-depth, analysis of the EEG’s done to see the emotional reactions to words such as “blood” compared to “house”. Non-psychopaths have very distinct mental/emotional reactions to words such as “blood” or “death’ compared to “house”, or “box” that at a basic social and emotional level that psychopaths can logically understand emotions enough to very effectively fool anyone they encounter they cannot understand emotion and pain on the most very basic levels. This article puts rather succinctly the basic problem psychopaths have “Psychopaths are not merely selfish. Their brains process information differently from those of other people. It’s as if they have a learning disability that impairs emotional development.” These ideas are further back up by another fascinating article, the University of Hull and the University College of London, discuss findings that also supports the biological side of psychopathy going beyond the EEG and MRI results this article goes more into why psychopaths have the imaging results that they do. While filled with a lot of technical

    Read More

  • Cornell Woolrich Psychology Essay

    1774 Words  | 4 Pages

    The human mind is one of the most complex structures the gods had created. It is difficult to understand each brain process as every human being possesses his or her own distinguished thought patterns with different levels of complexities. A person’s mind greatly influences his behavior, which eventually transforms into his habit by becoming embedded into his character. Today, the world of psychology tries to understand everything that a mind can create. However, even before the field of Psychology was introduced and brought into practice, some American writers threw a spotlight on the mechanism of the human brain in their works. On top of this list is an American writer, Edgar Allan

    Read More

  • The Sociopath Mr. Ripley

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    Conceptualize a world in which you have no conscience, no feelings of guilt or remorse -no matter what actions you take- no sense of empathy or concern of the well being of friends, loved ones, or even family members. This is the world of a sociopath. This is the world of Tom Ripley in Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. Tom develops into an intelligent young man who eventually conjures a crime spree in Europe. His driving force behind this spree, though the spree may be sporadic, is freedom. His ability to be independent from a guilty conscience and the pleasure from concealing a false identity (characteristics of a sociopath) are his motives behind his acquisition for freedom.

    Read More

  • Emotional Intelligence: A Personal Narrative Analysis

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Daniel Goleman’s “Emotional Intelligence,” he dives into the science behind the brain and how emotions can affect a person’s decision making process. The human brain consists of two main parts: the neocortex, or the thinking brain, and the amygdala, the emotional brain. The neocortex is the part of the brain that is responsible for rational thoughts. “It contains the centers that put together and comprehend what the senses perceive” (Goleman 11). Contrasting the neocortex is the amygdala, which “acts as a storehouse of emotional memory; life without the amygdala is a life stripped of personal meanings” (Goleman 15). According to Goleman, one man, whose amygdala was surgically removed, became completely uninterested in people, preferring to sit in isolation with no human contact. “Without an amygdala he seemed to have lost all recognition of feeling, as well as any feeling about feelings” (Goleman 15). The amygdala has its own circuitry attaching it to the pre-frontal cortex, which is the center for the brain for working memory. If this circuitry was cut, a person’s decision making process would be greatly affected. However, if this connection was broken, a person’s score on an IQ test would not be affected at all. This is true because the emotional aspect of the brain, which is used in making decisions, would be affected but the rational thinking portion would not be affected. The amygdala

    Read More

  • Perceptions of Mental Illness

    1556 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout this course, much of what we have discussed has depended strongly on an interpretation of scientific information. We have questioned, criticized, accepted, rejected, and formed our own ideas about topics in neural and behavioral science. A book which I have read recently seems to fit in with this type of discussion. Blaming the Brain, by Eliot Valenstein, describes the major biological theories of mental illness and the lack of evidence we have to fully support them.

    Read More

  • Downside of Technology Exposed in Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ver her, not bent with concern, but only standing straight, arms folded. And he remembered thinking then that f she died, he was certain he wouldn't cry." (Bradbury 41). This shows how the technicians lack of concern for Mildred is similar to the lack of concern he and Mildred had each other; Technology makes us les human. Therefore, Technology is bad for alternatives way for people because it replace humanity.

    Read More

  • Without Conscience by Robert D. Hare

    1924 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Without Conscience" by Robert D. Hare is one aimed towards making the general public aware of the many psychopaths that inhabit the world we live in. Throughout the book Hare exposes the reader to a number of short stories; all with an emphasis on a characteristic of psychopaths. Hare makes the claim that close monitoring of psychopathy are vital if we ever hope to gain a hold over Psychopathy- A disorder that affects not only the individual but also society itself. He also indicates one of the reasons for this book is order to correctly treat these individuals we have to be able to correctly identify who meets the criteria. His ultimate goal with the text is to alleviate some of the confusion in the increase in criminal activity by determining how my of this is a result of Psychopathy.

    Read More

  • A Satisfactory Moral Theory

    919 Words  | 2 Pages

    James Rachels expresses his thoughts on what a satisfactory moral theory would be like. Rachels says a “satisfactory theory would be realistic about where human beings fit in the grand scheme of things” (Rachels, 173). Even though there is an existing theory on how humans came into this world there is not enough evidence to prove the theory to be correct. In addition to his belief of knowing how our existence came into play, he also has a view on the way we treat people and the consequences of our actions. My idea of a satisfactory moral theory would be treating people the way we wish to be treated, thinking of what results from our doings, as well as living according to the best plan.

    Read More

  • Sigmund Freud's Theory Of Morality

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sigmund Freud believed that society has instilled morality upon us, exterminating our individualism. This morality eventually leads to neurosis, in which it becomes more difficult for us to maintain ourselves through the stress of society’s morality. I disagree with Freud, because I believe that morality isn’t forced on us externally, but internally through reason. As humans developed reason, we also developed a sense of morality through that reason. Freud believes that humans should do what they want because we shouldn’t restrict ourselves on society 's behalf. However, I believe that restriction is an essential part of our character, and allows humanity to advance further than any other race. Morality, like reason, keeps us safe from the

    Read More

  • Misuse of Psychological Conditioning in Today’s Society: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...en. The society is facing a challenge of whether or not the world should stop mental control or keep it going with the worry that it may take over the world one day. More realistically though, it could turn man into a community of people who is controlled by the government and does not have any emotions and can not figure out anything for themselves.. If the world misuses psychological conditioning enough, it will be a threat to humanity and that is not something that people of this world should think of as something good, because it could potentially ruin all of mankind together.

    Read More

More about Morality In Incott Baaper's Neuropath By Scott Bakker

Open Document