Sir Robert Winston interviewed on Breakfast BBC this morning, plugging his new TV Series (and obligatory book of the series). Several interesting and relevant tidbits. Firstly, echoing the previous post, the instinct (genetically inherited and socially conditioned) that allows us to recognise friend or foe from first impressions (fractions of seconds contact even) is an ancient survival mechanism. Interestingly Winston also has views on the extent to which such behaviours are innate and are subsequently conditioned, which include the belief that there must be some fundamental basis of instints that have a “moral” aspect, and examples of survival vs sacrifice behaviours. (See Chrucky items blogged earlier – moral insticts by tacit agreement etc.). Winston admitted candidly that as a scientist, some of these beliefs were pushing the boundaries of what his peers might consider scientific, but they were seriously held intuitions.