30 | New Scientist | 15 June 2019
Book
The Science of Fate: Why your
future is more predictable
than you think
Hannah Critchlow
Hodder & StoughtonWHEN Bradley Waldroup was
accused of murder, his attorney
sent his DNA to a genetics lab.
The results changed his fate. The
lab found he had a rare variant
of the MAO-A gene that is strongly
associated with violent behaviour
in people who – like him – were
abused as children. Instead of
receiving the death penalty,
Waldroup was sentenced to
32 years in prison in 2009.
At stake in the case was the
issue of free will, considered at
length in The Science of Fate by
Hannah Critchlow, a University of
Cambridge neuroscientist. From
murder to what we eat, Critchlow
explores the influence of genetics
and environment on our thoughts
and behaviour, trying once again
to deflate public notions of
unlimited agency and capability.
Although that vision of
“free will on steroids” may have
personal and societal benefits,
ranging from self-affirmation
to civic responsibility, Critchlow
refuses to give free will a free ride,
especially where she believes the
science is stacked against it.
Take the familiar ideas about
the deep evolutionary roots of
dietary preference, such as our
insatiable craving for sugar and
fat, efficient energy sources for
survival when food was scarce.
Less familiar, but equally key, is
the way children are predisposed
in utero to like certain foods.
As Critchlow explains, the child’s
reward system develops there,
inclining the fetus to flavours
present in amniotic fluid.How free is free will?
The idea that we have unlimited choice and agency still needs a lot of science
and clear thinking to help beat it into shape, realises Jonathon KeatsTogether with genetics, such early
conditions have lifelong health
implications, playing a far bigger
role than conscious choices in
determining, say, obesity.
Love is also fated for Critchlow.
Mate selection owes a lot to scent.
Critchlow cites the sweaty T-shirt
experiment. Women had to
rate the allure of men’s T-shirts,
preferring the perspiration ofViews Culture
Your mind can
stop your body
doing what your
MA genes dictateT^ J
ACOB/TEN
DANC
E^ FLO
UE“ The more we learn
from neuroscience,
the more sense it
makes to have a
system that treats
criminality as it
does public health”But if the world is deterministic,
what is the point of trying to solve
our problems? A discussion in
the book with former Archbishop
of Canterbury Rowan Williams
leads to an intriguing response.
He holds that our relations with
each other can’t be deterministic
because our minds are
fundamentally unconstrained.
Critchlow argues that by
“debating our differing realities,
we will collectively get to a more
nuanced and robust set of beliefs
that better serves our needs”.
Even if individuals turn out to
lack free will, our collective future
may be open – and we can all
benefit from Critchlow’s book. ❚Jonathon Keats is an experimental
philosopher and conceptual artistmales whose immune systems
contrasted with their own, and
whose DNA might therefore add
to the defences of any offspring.
“The women could literally sniff
out Mr Right, with optimum
genetics in mind,” says Critchlow.
Society does us a disservice by
uncritically embracing free will,
Critchlow argues. In particular,
she questions a criminal justice
system that does not respond
to the latest science. The more
neuroscience teaches us, she
says, the more it seems we may
be better served by a system “that
treats the problem of criminality
as it does public health”.Hear Hannah Critchlow
talk about free will
newscientistlive.com