Education plays a key role in preventing genocide. Only by understanding the neural drive to form ingroups and outgroups – and the standard tricks by which propaganda plugs into this drive – can we hope to interrupt the paths of dehumanization that end in mass atrocity. In this age of digital hyperlinking, it’s more important than ever to understand the links between humans. Human brains are fundamentally wired to interact: we’re a splendidly social species. Although our social drives can sometimes be manipulated, they also sit squarely at the center of the human success story.
