Ever wonder why we humans, the smartest beings on Earth, endlessly make the same deadly mistakes and have become the least wise creatures on Earth as a result?

Considered as a species, we are clearly howling at the moon insane. I submit to you that if all the books, videos, art, and other human artifacts that document and provide hard, physical evidence of that insanity was bulldozed into a single huge pile, the sheer weight of it would measurably increase the Earth's present eccentric wobble in its rotation, and even perhaps cause our world to capsize and start spinning on an entirely new axis!

Exaggeration? Perhaps the notion of the Earth flipping over is, but I stand by the "increased wobble” bit. I mean, let's get real- here is only one component of human insanity: Religious conflicts, caused by totally abstract notions that simply do not exist in the physical world, have killed approximately 809 million men women and children. If their bodies, at an average height of five feet, were lined head to toe, they would circle the 24,901 mile long Equator 34.6 times! Driving a car at 60 mph 24 hours a day, it would take 20 months to travel that distance! Many scientists propose that a lot of people actually have a “God gene” that makes them create, worship, and follow the wishes of imaginary beings – a phenomenon unique to humans, thankfully.

But we Atheists are no slouches at killing millions of humans, either, so why do so many of us not only excel at killing each other in such numbers, but often revel in doing so? If many warriors did not find at least some satisfying thrills in their bloody work, wars would not be so frequent or prolonged. I have speculated in other Godot essays that our brain's hunter-killer left hemisphere might be an evolutionary parasite, since 80% of the left brains of young severely epileptic children can be surgically removed because undifferentiated stem cells in the right hemi take over the vast majority of left brain functions after healing for about 18 months. It is the left brain's expendability that makes me think it may be an evo parasite, you see.

But this remarkable 5-minute TED educational video shows that other culprits may be at work - parasitic micro-organisms that might be re-wiring our brains and eliciting some of the suicidal and homicidal behavior that turns our hubris-prone bodies into a wonderful source of food and fertilizer for many of Earth's other life forms! In ancient times, huge flocks of crows would follow large groups of marching men through forests for days, knowing very well that a battle would take place soon and there would be lots of crow food on the ground.

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-parasites-change-their-host-s-behavior-jaap-de-roode

After that lovely little wake up call, no doubt most of you will want more info about the actual mechanics these little assassins employ that can turn complex brained mammals into suicidal or homicidal zombies. There are three important takeaways from this second TED Talk, presented by the brilliant and fun science writer Ed Yong in the link at bottom:

1) Large behavioral changes in mammals can be triggered by a parasite changing a SINGLE chemical in their brains; and changing chemicals is precisely what these minute biological factories have been doing for a few billion years.

2) In order to further their own survival strategies, these parasites can influence HERD behavior in animals, not just that of individuals.

3) Once the theoretical genocidal God gene (or another murderous one like it) gets switched on in humans, that madness is no longer confined to our brains: We have invented the vast external memory banks of mass media that can cause that madness, like so many others before it, to become a pandemic in both space AND time, cascading from one generation to the next in our traditions, laws and religious dogma.

*Fun bonus question: Could bored parasites, chained to the Earth for a billion years, infect the brains of us ground-pounding apes and make us kill each other in order to get eaten by birds and flying insects so they can get an aerial view of the world?

Okay, now is a good time to be afraid... VERY afraid.

https://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_suicidal_wasps_zombie_roaches_and_other_tales_of_parasites?language=en