Science does not make you antisocial because of politics. Nor is it because of adulation among scholars, corrupt academia, or the power games described in my article on academic clientelism and academic-political incest. That is a different disease. The real cause is far more profound—and far more disturbing. It lies in what science actually reveals.
It is evolutionary biology. And it is evolutionary psychology.
They destroy illusions. They do not offer political opinions, nor do they ask you to conform to academic etiquette. Instead, they reveal what we are. And once you internalize it, once you fully grasp what science tells you about humans, a deep feeling of alienation is almost inevitable.
We are nothing but animals
At the most basic level, we are animals. Not divine creatures, not moral agents descended from heaven. Not even rational beings most of the time. We are complex mammals with an overgrown brain. That brain evolved to outcompete, to deceive, to survive.
We ingest food; we like fat, sugar, and salt, we reproduce. Add we fear death. We hoard resources, we build hierarchies; we groom allies and backstab rivals. Also, we wage war, we protect our genes. We defend our territory. We lie to others—and to ourselves.
Nothing about this is noble. Evolution selected what worked, not what was right.
We smile because it triggers trust. We feel empathy because it helped small groups survive. But these emotions are tools, not truths. If we could survive better without empathy, evolution would have removed it. So when it stayed, it stayed for advantage.
Competition begins before birth
Even conception is a war. Millions of sperm cells race for one egg. Only one wins. Every single one of us exists because of an ancient, unthinking biological lottery. Others, just as genetically equipped, failed. Some zygotes were not viable, some pregnancies failed. Some children died young. Evolution did not blink.
Even your existence is the result of brutal selection. You are the survivor of invisible wars.
And it never stops. There is constant competition for food, status, influence, sex, safety, and respect. There is competition even now for who will be born. Some families pass on their genes. Others do not. Some fathers defend their families—but not others. Evolution rewards those who secure their own. Altruism toward non-kin is rare, costly, and often punished by natural selection.
Antisocial? People are selfish: That is the design
The human being is selfish by nature. Yes, we cooperate—but only when there is mutual benefit. Even the kindest acts are filtered through self-interest. Evolution has no patience for generosity that leads to extinction.
We help family, because our genes are shared. We may help friends—because they can return the favor, we may even help strangers—but only under social pressure, moral framing, or cultural guilt. Real altruism, where no benefit ever returns? That is a rarity. That is almost unnatural.
You may feel sick, you may be dying. And you may be one of a handful of people with a rare disease. But if your condition is not profitable, no drug will be developed. You will be ignored. This is not cruelty. It is indifference. And indifference is far worse.
I am one of those people. I suffer from conditions for which no pharmaceutical company will fund research. No clinical trials, no investment. No cure. My pain does not interest them. My suffering does not pay. Evolutionary psychology makes this clear: people do things for gain. If there is no benefit, there is no action. I am left to rot while the system glorifies itself for helping others.
Science: We obey orders, not morals
One of the most chilling revelations of evolutionary psychology is how easily humans follow orders. We evolved in tribes, where hierarchy meant survival. Defy the chief, and you were exiled. Obedience became instinctive.
That is why people become soldiers. They do not kill because they hate. They kill because they are told to. The Holocaust was carried out not by sadists, but by ordinary people following procedures. Clerks, guards, engineers. They followed rules, they were praised. They were promoted. Evolution does not weed out obedience—it selects it.
People will do horrific things not because they are evil, but because they are obedient. That is worse. Because it means anyone can become a monster in the right context.
Morality is manufactured for power
People think morality is objective. Or divine. Or sacred. But morality is a tool. It evolved to regulate behavior within small groups. And then, it was rewritten by religions, by kings, by lawmakers—to benefit themselves.
Who defines good and evil? The powerful. They decide what behavior is punished, they decide who gets to act violently. They write laws that justify their own violence and criminalize yours.
People adopt morals that help them rise. Empires adopt morals that justify conquest. Companies adopt morals that legitimize exploitation. Nations adopt morals that erase the suffering of others.
If you wonder why people believe in such absurd codes, the answer is survival. It is safer to conform than to question. It is more rewarding to obey than to rebel. Morality is not a compass. It is camouflage.
Helping strangers is unnatural
We evolved in tribes of 50 to 150 people. Helping strangers was risky. They might exploit you. They might kill you. Evolution punished generosity to outsiders. That is why racism, xenophobia, and nationalism are so easily triggered.
We are not designed to care about people we do not know. That is why global suffering is tolerated. Half of the world lives in hell—without clean water, without safety, without hope. But unless those people are your kin or your neighbors, your brain does not care. Your emotions do not react. Your instincts stay numb.
And science proves it. Evolution selects for local loyalty. Not universal compassion.
The brutal consequences of knowing
When you finally understand all this, when you grasp that humans are selfish, tribal, violent, order-following, gene-spreading animals who justify themselves with convenient lies—how do you feel?
You feel cold, you feel alone, you feel betrayed by nature.
You no longer expect people to help, you no longer trust institutions; you no longer believe in the innate goodness of others. And you might withdraw. You might grow cynical. You might become antisocial.
But it was not science that corrupted you. It was reality.
No place for being antisocial: Humanism: The only way out
And yet, knowledge must not become a cage. If we let our animal instincts rule, we fall back into tribalism. Into savagery. Into hierarchies and extermination. That is what nature wants. That is what evolution delivers.
But we can say no. We can resist. We can fight our programming.
We must build artificial morality. Morality based not on genes, nor obedience, but on reason. On long-term thinking. On empathy—learned empathy. Not instinctive, but chosen.
We must develop drugs even for rare conditions, we must help strangers with no hope of reward. And we must oppose cruelty even when it profits us. We must destroy orders that demand evil.
This is not natural. That is why it matters.
Humanism is the rebellion against biology. It is the refusal to let nature win.
Conclusion: The truth hurts, but must be faced
Science makes you antisocial because it tells the truth. But do not stop there. Let the pain of truth push you higher. Let it burn away illusions. And once they are gone—build something better.
Be a humanist. Not because it feels good. But because it is the only dignified response to evolution’s cruelty.
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