Howard Bloom
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Howard Bloom is a specialist in evolutionary psychology. He is a Visiting Scholar in the Graduate Psychology Department at New York University. He is founder of the International Paleopsychology Project; a founding board member of the Epic of Evolution Society and a founding council member of The Darwin Project and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Howard Bloom is co-author and supporter of hidden-time revolution in quantum theory (http://www.geocities.com/bellstheorem/), developed in collaboration with Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences (http://www.keldysh.ru).
Before becoming a psychologist, Bloom was a public relations manager for many entertainers, including Michael Jackson, Prince, John Mellencamp, Kiss, Queen, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Joan Jett, Diana Ross, Simon & Garfunkel, The Talking Heads, AC/DC, Billy Idol, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run D.M.C., and Simply Red. He was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 1988 and was confined to his New York City home for 15 years. He is now slowly recovering.
Controversy
Bloom has been attacked by critics on three grounds: 1) being racist, 2) being unscientific, and 3) being a misanthrope. These critiques first came about with the publication of The Lucifer Principle, which pulls from several sociological, psychological, and scientific disciplines, and concludes that humans are biologically "hardwired" towards cruelty and murder, and that ruling civilizations are always usurped by "upstart" groups that are always ignored or underestimated by the ruling group. The controversy is well deserved, but unfounded.
Critics accuse Bloom of abusing scientific findings to lend credibility to his theories of human behavior. Many argue that Bloom depends too heavily on animal research to make conclusions about the human brain; others contend that Bloom only points out the "problem" of human violence but fails to offer any solutions for it (possibly because Bloom does not believe that there are ways to prevent violence besides using other modes of - typically state-sanctioned - violence).
The harshest attacks against Bloom accuse him of racism. The Lucifer Principle's final chapters call for preemptive military action against the Middle East in order to prevent Islamic nations from toppling the United States' top position among the global "pecking order." (The Lucifer Principle was published a couple of years before the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.) He has since augmented this call to action to include China as another threat against both the U.S. and the Middle East.
Books
- The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History ISBN 0871136643
- Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to the 21st Century ISBN 0471419192
External links
- Howard Bloom's webpage (http://www.HowardBloom.net)
- The Howard Bloom Media Lab (http://www.BigBangTango.net)