In a word – Ridiculous.

I think it’s probably wise to view news reports like this with a healthy dose of skepticism, but I’m unclear as to whether you object to this post because you feel like people might read too much into it (“Aha! We’ve found the part of the brain where our morals come from!), or because you feel like science in general or neurology in particular cannot have anything to say about moral behavior.

I agree with you that this study indeed probably says very little (if anything) about where our morals really come from, but I do think that morality can be a valid subject of scientific inquiry. I have no idea how much science will actually be able to explain, but I think it’s worth it to ask the questions, and it’s not obvious to me that science can’t have anything to say about it.

That scientific study of the brain can discover the source of our humanity, our character, our conscience, our morals?

That’s the only place all of those characteristics come from.
Sorry to burst your romantic bubble.

That’s the only place all of those characteristics come from.

What about the general “memosphere” (meme-pool?).

Memes (like religion and morality) of course require brains to propogate, but they don’t originate in brains. Their evolution depends on their transmission between brains, so to say the brain is the only place that morality etc., can come from isn’t quite correct. At least some part, maybe even most, comes from the vast web of communication in human society, which is distinctly different.

Memes (like religion and morality) of course require brains to propogate, but they don’t originate in brains.

They gotta start somewhere, don’t they?

Their evolution depends on their transmission between brains, so to say the brain is the only place that morality etc., can come from isn’t quite correct.

So it takes two brains. To-may-toe, to-mah-toe.
It still begins in 1 (or more) human brain(s).
Next time I’ll qualify it w/a ‘collective’ clause.