Future of the Mind 
Huxley: We want a great deal more research on how con- 
science itself is formed, before we can begin to modify it. It 
isn’t formed in the school period, though it may be modified 
then. 3 
Brain: We are dealing with established reactions, which are 
the product of consciences built up in people many years earlier. 
We may now modify consciences, if we start at the beginning, 
but how are we to modify the established reactions? Isn’t that 
the crux of it? 
Hoagland: ‘There is a long phylogenetic history to the 
aggressive behaviour with which we are concerned. Konrad 
Lorenz has pointed out interesting things from studies of ani- 
mals. As we well know, most animals fight for status in the 
“pecking order’’, and do this with vigour and enthusiasm. I 
suppose about the only animals that don’t fight are clams and 
oysters, probably because they can’t get at each other. Combat 
seems to be an essential part of the development of societies of 
mammals and birds and of the whole vertebrate series as well 
as most invertebrates. Lorenz and others have observed that 
when well-armed animals like wolves, lions and sharp-horned 
ungulates fight for status, they rarely kill each other, or even 
do each other much harm. Their combat is more in the form 
of a duel. On the other hand, Lorenz found that two turtle 
doves caged together pecked each other to death, a thing which 
hawks would not do. Doves are very poorly armed. Lorenz 
points out that male rabbits may fight to the death if they 
cannot run away from each other, whereas this never seems to 
happen with the well-armed animals that have surrender sig- 
nals and yield status in defeat. Man is notoriously ill-armed 
biologically. We have no fighting canine teeth, or horns, or 
heavy-armour. We cannot run very fast, and our skin is thin. 
We appear to be more like the dove or rabbit than the hawk 
or wolf. In 1935 Lorenz remarked that the time may come 
when men have developed such powers of mass destruction as 
to threaten the human race. He said that the great question 
then will be whether men will behave like wolves, or like doves. 
Let us hope it will be like wolves. 
33! 
