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Neuroscience is a complex field, and indeed works against the simplistic idea of simple causality between affective and intellectual states and the field of human action. The best neuroscientists understand the open ended character of affective reasoning in both degree and social impact. This doctor is not well representing the field, but is instead reducing it to a series of deterministic slogans.
Most disturbing is his argument at the end of the article, calling on Madoff to be forced to submit to examination and "non-invasive" experiment as part of his sentence, should he be convicted. Does this man have any idea concerning the history of such interventions? When coupled with his determinist view of human behavior, the whole article smacks of the most authoritarian, indeed, eugenicist argument I've seen in recent years. Simply appalling.
