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The Vampire Economist and the Moral Molecule

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:00:00 EDT

In his new book, The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity, neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak discusses his research on oxytocin, aka the "moral molecule." For the past 10 years, Zak has been conducting the same kind of trust games that are common in experimental economics, but with a twist. Before and after the trust games, Zak has been taking blood samples with the goal of gaining a better understanding of how and why people trust others.

Zak's work on oxytocin, which Genome author Matt Ridley calls "one of the most revealing experiments in the history of economics," helps economists understand why people are often generous to complete strangers and why those complete strangers so often reciprocate. The key, Zak explains, is oxytocin. Our brains release oxytocin when we hug others, when we receive gifts and when we are trusted. Because elevated oxytocin levels in the blood make us more likely to trust others, oxytocin plays an essential role in all human interactions, including the process of wealth creation. As Zak puts it, "You can't induce your brain to release oxytocin, you can only give it to somebody else. If you give this gift, our biology has set us up so that people will return it to us."

Approximately 5.5 minutes.

Produced by Paul Feine & Alex Manning.

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Author Zack Lynch on How Neuroscience Will Change the World

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:00:00 EDT

Does free will have a place in the neuromarketing revolution? Is mankind poised to drastically reshape our ability to read and control the brain? Does the government have a role in helping this fledgling science flourish?

Zack Lynch, the author of The Neuro Revolution, sat down with Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie to discuss the future of neuroscience and how it will affect every aspect of our lives.

Approximately 9.20 minutes.

Shot by Meredith Bragg and Dan Hayes. Edited by Meredith Bragg.

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From Priest to Scientist: An Interview with Dr. Francisco J. Ayala

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EDT

“Science and religion are not in contradiction, they don’t need to be,” says Dr. Francisco J. Ayala. “They are like two windows through which we look at the world.”

Dr. Ayala is the recipient of the 2010 Templeton Prize; given to a person who has made an exceptional contribution to the study of spiritual realities. He donated the $1.5 million monetary portion of the prize to the University of California, Irvine, to create a scholarship fund.

Ayala has the unique experience of studying both science at Columbia University and theology at a seminary in Spain. Since leaving his graduate studies, he has become a leader in the world of genetics and evolution. He now teaches and conducts research in evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine.

Topics include keeping science and religion separate in schools, the morality in human cloning and whether humans have free will. Approximately 9 minutes.

Interviewed by Ted Balaker. Shot by Hawk Jensen and Zach Weissmuller. Edited by Paul Detrick.

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Neuroeconomist Paul Zak on Markets and the "Molecule of Love"

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00:00 EDT

"Markets are pro-social. Markets are about serving the needs of another—that is innately virtuous," says Paul J. Zak, professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University.

Zak is the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont and is credited with the first published use of the term neuroeconomics, a new discipline that integrates neuroscience and economics. He describes neuroeconomics as the "brain basis for decision-making" or simply put, "It's really about why people make bad decisions regarding money."

In 2004, Zak's lab discovered that the chemnical oxytocin (best known for inducing labor in women and giving us that warm fuzzy feeling when we hug someone) allows us to determine whom to trust in situations that require exchange. That's the same trust that makes trade possible and underpins modern civilizations and economies.

Zak discusses his oxytocin argument, presented in Moral Markets: The Critical Role of Values in the Economy and why even the most untrustworthy among us leads to a healthy and moral marketplace.

Approximately 10 minutes long. Produced by Hawk Jensen with Alex Manning as director of photography.

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Matt Ridley on Evolution, Economics, and "Ideas Having Sex"

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Matt Ridley, an Oxford-educated zoologist, turned to journalism in 1983 when he got a job as The Economist’s science reporter. He soon became the magazine’s Washington correspondent and eventually served as its American editor.

Ridley has written several acclaimed books that combine clear explanations of complex biology with discussions of the science’s implications for human society. In the reason.tv interview, Ridley discusses some of the themes in The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature; The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation; Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters; and Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, & What Makes Us Human; as well as his forthcoming book which seeks to understand how and why human progress happens.

Paul Feine and Alex Manning interviewed Ridley in the Milton and Rose Friedman Reading Room at Chapman University in Orange, California.

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EXPELLED

ted.balaker@reason.tv (Ted Balaker) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:04:00 EST

Ben Stein's entry into the world of feature-length documentaries:

Ben realizes that he has been “Expelled,” and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the “crime” of merely believing that there might be evidence of “design” in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance.

Go here for some trailers, and an O'Reilly Factor appearance by Stein, in which Bill declares that the "secular pinheads haven't figured it out."

RELATED: Reason.tv interviews Michael Shermer .