The Brains that Pull the Triggers: New Insights into Syndrome E

New session of the "Paris IAS Ideas" online talk series, with the participation of Itzhak Fried, UCLA professor / 2023-2024 Paris IAS writing residency

The "Paris IAS Ideas" online talk series features short and stimulating presentations from fellows of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study, marking the beginning of 1-month writing residencies.

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Presentation

Professor Fried's project looks at the transformation of groups of previously nonviolent individuals into repetitive killers of defenseless members of society has been a recurring phenomenon throughout history.

In 1997 Prof. Fried proposed that this radical transformation in human behavior is characterized by a set of signs and symptoms suggesting a common syndrome, Syndrome E (Fried, Lancet, 1997). He proposed  a model of “cognitive fracture” for breakdown of brain mechanisms enabling such transformation. His current project aims to reevaluate this model in light of recent conflicts such as those in the Ukraine and the Middle East and examine the human brain vulnerability in negotiating overflow of information produced by social media and artificial intelligent agents resulting in polarization and extremism.