Roland Paulsen: Humans are not biologically predetermined – we can change more than we think

A prevailing narrative in public service media suggests that human problems are rooted in biology and that our brains are hardwired by evolution. Roland Paulsen, writing for Dagens Nyheter, challenges this deterministic view, which he finds consistently promoted on programs like Anders Hansen's and Agnes Wold's.

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A caterpillar that builds a cocoon and breaks down its tissues to re-emerge as a butterfly will have the same DNA in all its guises. Her short existence will be marked by striving and change. Yet many people will regard her as a machine, without will and pre-programmed.

Hansen, a prominent figure in public service broadcasting, frequently attributes human issues to biological programming. Wold, a professor of bacteriology, has gone as far as to state that "child-rearing is probably a waste of time," arguing that a child's biological inheritance largely determines who they become, rendering parental influence insignificant. This perspective, according to Paulsen, is presented as "wonderful" because it absolves society of responsibility.

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child-rearing is probably a waste of time.

Paulsen contends that this deterministic view of human biology is not new but has become deeply entrenched. He contrasts it with the ideas of Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, the biologist who coined the term "biology." Lamarck believed that all organisms, including humans, possess agency – the ability to develop in directions not predetermined. For Lamarck, this capacity for choice and action was the defining characteristic of life, the opposite of being a mere machine.

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Children who are born happy and calm make parents happy and calm. Children born with difficult temperaments are dissatisfied, often end up in conflicts and have worried, tired and quarrelsome parents.

Lamarck, despite being the first to propose a theory of evolution, has been largely disregarded as a heretic within his field for nearly two centuries. However, Paulsen notes that in the last twenty years, Lamarck's ideas have seen a slow but significant rehabilitation. This suggests a growing recognition that humans are not simply biological automatons but beings capable of significant change and self-directed development, challenging the notion that our actions and potential are rigidly dictated by our DNA.

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they possessed agency, that is, the ability to develop themselves based on choices and actions in directions not predetermined.