We still seem to believe in the 'the ascent of man' and that we are superior to all other species, so surely we must be in charge of our destinies. But is it any more valid, believing a man is superior to a butterfly because he is cleverer, than believing a butterfly is superior to a man because it is more beautiful? It has been suggested that our unashamed vanity has been dealt three serious blows. The first was cosmological, dealt by Copernicus in 1543, who showed that we were not at the center of the universe; the second was biological, dealt by Darwin in 1859, who showed that we were just one small branch of the evolutionary tree of life; and the third was psychological, dealt by Freud in 1900, who showed that the unconscious mind had a far greater influence on us than we had ever thought possible. To these might be added yet a fourth blow to our vanity. It is a blow that is gradually being exposed by the inquiry into what makes us feel and think and act the way we do and how much our heredity and environmental experiences influence our behavior. Perhaps we're not quite as in charge of our destinies as we thought we were. Most of us think we learn from our experiences but perhaps we can do so only retrospectively and that this process is less about learning than conditioning.
About the Author:

John Faupel began his career as a mathematician in 1962. Then, after a spell of teaching, did research in the social sciences and from 1970 became head of Manpower Planning for the UK Printing and publishing Industry.

In 1975, John headed a nationwide study for the Venezuelan government on Absenteeism and Labor Turnover, and in 1978, he returned to the UK and started his own business under the trade name 'Antique Atlas', dealing in cartographic material and publishing books on the subject.

Upon retirement in 2005, John joined a local branch of the U3A and ran a Philosophy Group, which involved fortnightly meetings to discuss some of the subjects outlined in his book, The Rise of the Mutant Ego.

After 8 years, he handed over leadership of the group to work on his book.

John has also always been interested in the history of art, but only since 2000 has he been able to take up painting more seriously. He is an active member and frequent speaker at the Truro Art Society.

Exploration and travel have also been an interest for John, particularly in South America, which included living alone for nearly a year in the Amazon Rainforest, photographing insects (his collection is now in the Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela). John has also researched the locations of the settlements and villages of the sixteenth century Timucuan Indians, who at one time occupied the woodland forests of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina in the tens of thousands, before Spanish and English colonialism wiped them from the face of the Earth.