Genocide is only possible when dehumanization happens on a massive scale, and the perfect tool for this job is propaganda: it keys right into the neural networks that understand other people, and dials down the degree to which we empathize with them. We’ve seen that our brains can be manipulated by political agendas to dehumanize other people, which can then lead to the darkest side of human acts. But is it possible to program our brains to prevent this? One possible solution lies in a 1960s experiment that was conducted not in a science lab, but in a school.
