Richard Horton, Editor of 'The Lancet'
So many of the predicaments facing the world today - poverty, terrorism, climate change - seem intractable. None of these challenges should be beyond human reason. Indeed, many good people have laid out strategies for their resolution. But somehow our species seems unable to cooperate successfully to defeat these threats. Science in its broadest sense can offer society technical solutions to its problems. Yet it seems that inherent human characteristics that have helped our species to succeed, such as self-interest, competitive vigour, the creation of sharply defined and defended identities, also weaken our ability to limit the risks posed by our own behaviour. Do our prospects therefore appear hopelessly bleak?
Science is constructing a surprising avenue of hope. The study of other species is producing tentative laws of animal behaviour. These laws might be exploited usefully in human settings to foster a new era of global human compassion, collaboration, and prosperity.