Australian biologist and author (born 1945)
Jeremy Griffith |
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 Griffith launching his book Freedom at the Royal Geographical Society, London. 2 June 2016 |
| Born | 1945 (age 78–79) |
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| Citizenship | Australian |
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| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
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| Occupation(s) | Biologist and author |
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| Years active | 1967–present |
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| Organization | World Transformation Movement |
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| Known for | Biological treatise on the human condition |
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| Notable work | Freedom: The End Of The Human Condition |
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Jeremy Griffith (born 1945) is an Australian biologist and author.[1][2] He first came to public attention for his attempts to find the Tasmanian tiger. He later became noted for his writings on the human condition and theories about human progress,[3][4] which seek to give a biological, rational explanation of human behaviour.[5] He founded the World Transformation Movement in 1983.
Early life and career
Griffith was raised on a sheep property in central New South Wales.[5] He was educated at Tudor House School, in New South Wales, and the Geelong Grammar School in Victoria and completed the NSW schools Leaving Certificate with first class honours in biology.[6] He subsequently began a science degree at the University of New England, in northern New South Wales. Finally, Griffith completed his Bachelor of Science in zoology at the University of Sydney in 1971.[7][8]
Search for the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacine)
He first became known for his search for surviving Tasmanian tigers, or thylacines,[9] the last known specimen of which died in captivity in 1936. The search was conducted from 1967 to 1973[10] and is considered the most intensive search to that point,[9] and included exhaustive surveys along Tasmania's west coast,[10] installation of automatic camera stations, prompt investigations of claimed sightings,[11] and in 1972 the creation of the Thylacine Expeditionary Research Team with Bob Brown. It concluded without finding any evidence of the animal's continuing existence despite numerous claimed ongoing sightings.[9] Griffith’s search was the subject of an episode of ABC TV’s A Big Country;[12][13] and his report of the search was published in Natural History.[10][14]
The thylacine was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 1982[15] and by the Tasmanian government in 1986.[11]
Writings on human condition
Griffith began writing on the human condition in 1975 and published the first of his six books on the subject in 1988.[16] A Species In Denial (2003) became a bestseller in Australia and New Zealand.[17] His books seek to give a biological and rational explanation of human behaviour[5] and include references to philosophical and religious sources.[3]
His biological works on the origins of human nature assert that "humans act angrily because of a battle between instinct and intellect".[18] An article by Griffith published in The Irish Times summarised the thesis presented in Freedom: The End of The Human Condition (2016) as "Adam & Eve without the guilt: explaining our battle between instinct and intellect."[19] Kirkus Reviews wrote, "Griffith offers a treatise about the true nature of humanity and about overcoming anxieties about the world".[20]
The Templeton Prize winner and biologist Charles Birch, the New Zealand zoologist John Morton, the former president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association Harry Prosen, and Australian Everest mountaineer Tim Macartney-Snape[21] have been long-standing proponents of Griffith’s ideas. Birch wrote the Foreword to Griffith’s 2004 book A Species In Denial.[22] Morton publicly defended Griffith when he and his ideas were attacked in the mid-1990s.[18] In 2021 Prosen wrote, "Griffith puts forward a wide-ranging induction-derived synthesis. As Professor Scott Churchill, former Chair of Psychology at the University of Dallas, said in his review of Freedom, 'Griffith's perspective comes to us not as a simple opinion of one man, but rather as an inductive conclusion drawn from sifting through volumes of data representing what scientists have discovered.'... I have no doubt Griffith’s explanation of the human condition is the holy grail of insight we have sought for the psychological rehabilitation of the human race".[23]
Griffith analyzes the scientific literature in human evolution; rejects claims that human ancestors were brutal and aggressive; and instead points to fossil evidence such as that of Ardipithecus ramidus in support of his thesis that ancient humans were a gentle, loving and co-operative species. His ideas have been criticised based on perceived problems with the empirical veracity of his anthropological writings, an objection that highlights his reliance on the writings of the South African novelist Sir Laurens van der Post and the work of the anthropologist Elizabeth Marshall Thomas.[2]
In a 2020 article "The fury of the left, explained," published in The Spectator Australia, Griffith argues that the ideology of the Left is regressive and might lead to extinction: "the Left has given in to the temptation of relief-hunting and abandoned that all-important search [for understanding of the human condition]".[24] When interviewed by Alan Jones and Graham Richardson on their Richo & Jones Sky News Australia television program, Griffith said that "my article in The Spectator last week was all about how we can bring rationale, understanding to the danger of the Left, reason versus dogma".[25]
World Transformation Movement
The World Transformation Movement was founded by Griffith in 1983 as the Centre for Humanity’s Adulthood, an organisation dedicated to developing and promoting understanding of the human condition. It was incorporated in 1990 with Griffith and his colleague, mountaineer Tim Macartney-Snape, among its founding directors and became a registered charity in New South Wales in 1990, known as the Foundation for Humanity’s Adulthood. In 2009, its name changed to the World Transformation Movement.[26]
In 1995, Griffith, Macartney-Snape and the Foundation for Humanity's Adulthood (the World Transformation Movement's name at the time) were the subject of an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Four Corners program[4] and a Sydney Morning Herald newspaper article in which it was alleged that Macartney-Snape used speaking appearances at schools to promote the foundation, which was described as a cult, and that Griffith "publishes work of such a poor standard that it has no support at all from the scientific community".[27]
In 1998, the Australian Broadcasting Authority censured the ABC for unbalanced and inaccurate reporting and breaching the ABC code of practice, with The Bulletin describing the Four Corners program as a "hatchet job".[5] Griffith objected to being described as a "prophet of the posh" and portrayed as a form of deity as he was during the media controversy, but he was comfortable being referred to as a prophet in a secular sense, and he regards many thinkers as prophets, including James Darling, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Thomas Huxley, Stephen Hawking and Laurens van der Post.[5][22]
Both the ABC and Herald publications became the subject of defamation actions in the NSW Supreme Court.[28][29] In 2007, the ABC was ordered to pay Macartney-Snape almost $500,000 in damages, and with costs, the payout was expected to exceed $1 million.[29] The jury found that what the ABC said about Griffith was defamatory (it would tend to disgrace Griffith or lower public opinion of him),[30] but the judge dismissed the case after the defences of truth, qualified privilege and comment were considered.[29][31][32] Griffith appealed that decision, and the NSW Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal[33][34] on the basis of qualified privilege and comment being upheld, but it found that the defamatory allegation that the ABC made about Griffith was not justified.[35][4] The proceedings against the Herald were resolved when it published an apology to the foundation in 2009.[36]
Other writings
In 2020, an article by Griffith published in The Spectator Australia under the heading 'The science of bushfires'[37] about his biological analysis of the dangers of eucalypts in light of the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season resulted in him appearing on Alan Jones's 2GB radio program,[38] and on the Richo & Jones Sky News Australia television program.[39] Griffith's analysis also generated interest in the United Kingdom.[40]
