November 23, 2003: The God Part of the Brain - Matthew Alper
November 23, 2003: The God Part of the Brain - Matthew Alper  
Podcast: The Art Bell Archive
Published On: Wed Jul 02 2025
Description: Art Bell recounts broadcast equipment failures caused by a rogue satellite signal jamming his frequency, then takes open lines covering Iraq violence, climate change, and the upcoming film The Day After Tomorrow based on the book he co-authored. Callers weigh in on military strategy, rapid weather shifts, and a listener from Dallas who corroborates a previous caller's claim of finding a shell casing near the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza.Matthew Alper, author of The God Part of the Brain, presents his theory that human spirituality is a genetically hardwired cognitive function rooted in evolutionary adaptation. He argues that every isolated culture developing spiritual beliefs, burial rituals, and worship points to an inherited neurological trait rather than evidence of an actual spiritual reality. Supporting this are identical twin studies showing 50 percent higher correlation in religious conviction among twins sharing the same genes, and brain imaging research revealing specific neurological changes during prayer and meditation.Alper contends that self-conscious awareness, humanity's greatest evolutionary advantage, also created an unbearable awareness of mortality. The god part of the brain evolved as a coping mechanism, generating belief in souls, afterlives, and deities to counteract the paralyzing fear of death. Art challenges him on whether a creator might have designed this very neural architecture, and whether prayer studies showing measurable health benefits undermine the purely mechanistic interpretation.