The Science Of Human Behavior

Prof. John S. Torday, a Developmental Physiologist from UCLA with a strong interest in How and Why Physiology has Evolved, participate in Risk Roundup to discuss the Science of Human Behavior.

Science of Human Behavior

Irrespective of cyberspace, aquaspace, geospace, space, or quantum space, human behavior can be the most significant security risk. Today, as each nation continues to undergo a massive technological transformation and seeks a new way to rebuild their economies, human lives, and the human ecosystem, it brings human behavior to the center—perhaps more than ever before for our collective security.

Moreover, when we evaluate human behavior on social media and when it comes to destructive ideas, innovation, and initiatives emerging in the entire human ecosystem, it is forcing us further to understand the root cause, the biology, the science of human behavior. Perhaps neoteny can help us understand the science of human behavior.

Understanding Neoteny

It is, therefore, crucial to understand what neoteny is and what determines the effects of neoteny. It seems that neoteny in humans is commonly understood to be the retention of juvenile features in an adult human. Since genetic factors seem to be influencing the degree of neoteny in humans, it is expressed not only behaviorally but also physically. It is further determined by changes in a few genes that determine the timing of different developmental stages in humans. This is crucial to evaluate the behavior of humans in the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic as well.

That brings us an important question, is neoteny responsible for traits like curiosity, imagination, intelligence, playfulness, risk-taking behavior, adaptability to adversity, maturity, rebelliousness, and more?  

Neoteny’s advances clearly explain that humans are not born with total mental capacity. Perhaps this would have also caused retention of other juvenile characteristics–including imagination, intelligence, risk-taking behavior, adaptability, and also in how we behave. It is crucial to evaluate:

• To what extent is neoteny tied to human evolutionary processes?
• Where do we see the evidence of human neoteny?
• Is it only visible in human behavior?
• Is biological neoteny inducing behavioral neoteny?

We are witnessing more and more humans taking risks and putting reality on the side. The fun has become an imperative even at the cost of freedom and responsibility. Facing adversity is proving difficult to many.

Implications

Since biological neoteny induces behavioral neoteny, and as we witness childlike behavior from adults, it has enormous implications for humanity’s future. Based on biological trends, it is essential to evaluate where society is going. So, the question is:

• What can be done to change human behavior?
• How can the emerging understanding of human behavior science be applied to improve our lives and our world?

The time is now to understand the “Science of Human Behavior” for humanity’s future.

For more, please watch the Risk Roundup Webcast or hear the Risk Roundup Podcast

About the Guest

Prof. John S. Torday is a Developmental Physiologist from UCLA based in the United States. His lung development career was launched 4 decades ago by the serendipitous finding that a simple molecule like cortisol could effectively accelerate fetal lung development. This phenomenon changed reproductive medicine overnight, reducing the preterm infant mortality rate from as high as 70% to nearly zero for preterm births. As a working scientist, this made no sense to him but was impossible to ignore- why should hormones have anything to do with the respiratory system? On the other hand, such chance findings are largely the history of biomedical research. He thinks that such paradoxes prevail because we are using the wrong logic. He believes that the way to make biology and medicine rational and predictive is by reducing cell biology evolution, as shown in his book Evolutionary Biology, Cell-Cell Communication, and Complex Disease. 

About the Host of Risk Roundup

Jayshree Pandya (née Bhatt), Ph.D., a leading expert at the intersection of science, technology, and security, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Risk Group LLC, host of influential Risk Roundup Podcast/Vodcast, an award-winning Scientist, and a Futurist passionate about protecting the Future of Humanity.
This passion and dedication to protecting the collective future have taken Dr. Pandya on a journey to understand the language of the universe. Her quest for a security algorithm drives her involvement in a wide range of research to understand the core mechanisms by which the cosmos operates and where the existential risks emerge for the human species. Her research across many domains has contributed to more than 100 publications and is pursued to provide security solutions for humanity’s future. She is the author of the books, Geopolitics of Cybersecurity and The Global Age. Her upcoming books are on Cyberwarfare, Pandemics, and Artificial Intelligence.

About Risk Roundup

Through the Risk Roundup initiative, Risk Group is on a mission to talk with a billion people: innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs, futurists, technologists, policymakers, to decision-makers. The reason behind this effort is to research, review, rate, and report strategic security risks facing humanity. This collective intelligence effort is essential to understand where we need to focus on our collective security–and what destructive forces we need to be mindful about.

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