Testosterone Quotes

“Why would someone like me, a scientist and not a journalist, write a book about my subject? A simple reason: someone reporting on a subject is not the same as someone doing it. Journalists are incredible: they pick up a story about which they may know nothing to begin with, quickly and effectively, and write lucidly and informatively about it. But it’s not the same. A scientist hasn’t thought about his subject for a few days, or weeks, but for years. So a scientist has a point of view: moreover, he/she knows that science is not simple, and there are often many points of view about a particular piece of scientific research. Mulling over your subject results in a state of mind that is not easily reproduced in any other way: a sort of maturation of thought. That doesn’t mean that the scientist is necessarily right in his/her views; in fact, one of the important endpoints of this state of mind is the realization of what is not known, and how far what we think we know is incomplete or uncertain. It’s also the ability to recognize the next big question. So writing a book such as this is not simply an account of the facts, but an interpretation and an acknowledgment that, in any part of science, there are huge pieces missing from the puzzle. You tell a story, but one full of twists and turns. No simple message or bottom line.”
― Joe Herbert, Testosterone: Sex, Power, and the Will to Win

“The human brain has evolved methods of warfare that go beyond the use of weapons. For example, greater access to information may influence those called upon to fight, or support, such wars (e.g. encouraging group cohesion or demonizing an enemy: the ‘narrative’ of war151); but there are increasingly powerful methods of disseminating misinformation by those wishing to promote conflict. It is these newer areas of the brain that enable the extraordinary and unique technological evolution in humans. One consequence of this has been to alter the biological and social advantages of going to war. But deeper in the brain lie other, more ancient mechanisms, respondent to testosterone (and other hormones) that can bias such decisions one way or another. As in so many other contexts, at some point one has to consider the brain as a whole, rather than ascribing individual actions or outcomes to specific areas. Logic, memory, cognition, and emotion are intertwined in decisions to go to war. But testosterone lies at the core of this mix. We cannot always rely on ancient tendencies being moderated by more recently developed parts of the brain.”
― Joe Herbert, Testosterone: Sex, Power, and the Will to Win