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Jeremy Griffith

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Jeremy Griffith
Griffith launching his book Freedom at the Royal Geographical Society, London. 2 June 2016
Born1945 (age 78–79)
CitizenshipAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
Occupation(s)Biologist and author
Years active1967–present
OrganizationWorld Transformation Movement
Known forBiological treatise on the human condition
Notable workFreedom: The End Of The Human Condition

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]

Selected bibliography

  • Griffith, Jeremy (2016). Transform Your Life And Save The World: Through Living In Support Of The Biological Truth About The Human Condition. WTM Publishing & Communications Pty Ltd. p. 82. ISBN 9781741290356.
  • Griffith, Jeremy (2016). Freedom: The End of The Human Condition. WTM Publishing & Communications Pty Ltd. p. 798. ISBN 9781741290288.
  • Griffith, Jeremy (2011). The Book of Real Answers to Everything!. WTM Publishing & Communications Pty Ltd. p. 651. ISBN 9781741290073.
  • Griffith, Jeremy (2003). A Species in Denial. WTM Publishing & Communications Pty Ltd. p. 528. ISBN 978-1-74129-001-1.
  • Griffith, Jeremy (1991). Beyond the Human Condition. WTM Publishing & Communications Pty Ltd. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-646-03994-7.
  • Griffith, Jeremy (1988). Free: The End of the Human Condition. WTM Publishing & Communications Pty Ltd. p. 228. ISBN 0-7316-0495-4.

References

  1. ^ Conway, Ronald (19 July 2003). "Baggage check". The Weekend Australian. Canberra, ACT, Australia: News Corp. p. B10.
  2. ^ a b Clark, Gary (6 October 2014). "Biologist Jeremy Griffith examines where the human race is headed". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Fairfax Media. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  3. ^ a b Bissland, Helen (1 November 2003). "Delving into the human mindset of denial". The Southland Times. Invercargill, New Zealand: The Southland Times. p. 35.
  4. ^ a b c Luck, Geoffrey (November 2012). "The Hubris of Four Corners". Quadrant. LVI (11). Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e Nicklin, Lenore (21 April 1998). "Higher Ground". The Bulletin. pp. 28–29. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Leaving Certificate Results". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Fairfax Media. 14 January 1965. p. 16.
  7. ^ Griffith, Jeremy (2003). A Species in Denial. WTM Publishing & Communications Pty Ltd. p. 528. ISBN 978-1-74129-001-1.
  8. ^ Biographical Profile - website of Jeremy Griffith
  9. ^ a b c Park, Andy (July 1986). "Tasmanian Tiger- Extinct or merely elusive?". Australian Geographic. 1 (3): 66–83.
  10. ^ a b c Griffith, Jeremy (December 1972). "The Search for the Tasmanian Tiger". Natural History (81). American Museum of Natural History: 70–77.
  11. ^ a b Robert Paddle (2000). The Last Tasmanian Tiger: The History and Extinction of the Thylacine. Cambridge University Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-521-53154-3.
  12. ^ Tiger Country, A Big Country, ABC TV, 1973.
  13. ^ Downes, Jim (1988). A Big Country: Stories of Australia & its people from the ABC-TV series. Angus & Robertson; ABC Enterprises. pp. 31–36. ISBN 9780207158964.
  14. ^ Smith, M. (February 1982). "Review of the Thylacine (Marsupialia, Thylacinidae)". In Archer, Michael (ed.). Carnivorous Marsupials. Royal Zoological Society of NSW. pp. 237–253. ISBN 9780959995138.
  15. ^ Burbidge, A. A.; Woinarski, J. (2016). "Thylacinus cynocephalus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T21866A21949291. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T21866A21949291.en. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  16. ^ Griffith, Jeremy (1988). Free: The End of the Human Condition. WTM Publishing & Communications Pty Ltd. p. 228. ISBN 0-7316-0495-4.
  17. ^ Sprogis, Elvira (21 June 2003). "Bestsellers books". The Newcastle Herald. Newcastle, NSW, Australia: The Newcastle Herald. p. 15.
  18. ^ a b Fray, Peter (17 April 1995). "7 Days: Religion". The Sydney Morning Herald. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  19. ^ "Adam & Eve without the guilt: explaining our battle between instinct and intellect". The Irish Times. The Irish Times. 30 May 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  20. ^ "Freedom: The End of The Human Condition". Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  21. ^ "Profile: Tim Macartney-Snape". Wild Australia. No. 3 #177, Spring 2020. 10 September 2020. ISSN 1030-469X.
  22. ^ a b Griffith, Jeremy (2004). A Species In Denial. WTM Publishing and Communications. ISBN 978-1741290011.
  23. ^ Harry Prosen. "The Psychological Rehabilitation of the Human Race". www.themontrealreview.com. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  24. ^ "The fury of the left, explained". The Spectator Australia. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  25. ^ "Richo & Jones, Wednesday 12th February". a cast. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  26. ^ "Description of the WTM". World Transformation Movement. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  27. ^ "Griffith & Macartney-Snape v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2008] NSWSC 764 (1 August 2008)". Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  28. ^ Kux, Y.C. (29 September 2005). "Jeremy Griffith & Ors v John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd and David Millikan". Gazette of Law & Journalism.
  29. ^ a b c Drummond, Andrew (1 August 2008). "Half-million payout for ABC defamation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  30. ^ "Legal Definition of DEFAMATORY". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  31. ^ "Griffith and Macartney-Snape v Australian Broadcasting Corporation, [2008] NSWSC 764". Lexis Advance Quicklaw. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  32. ^ "Griffith & Macartney-Snape v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2008] NSWSC 764 (1 August 2008)". Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  33. ^ "Griffith v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2010] NSWCA 257". Lexis Advance Quicklaw. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  34. ^ "Griffith v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2010] NSWCA 257". Australasian Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  35. ^ Tobin, T K; Sexton, M G; Gibson, Judge JC (March 2011). "Griffith v Australian Broadcasting Corporation [2010] NSWCA 257". Australian Defamation Law and Practice Bulletin. March 2011 – via LexisNexis.
  36. ^ "Apology". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 June 2009.
  37. ^ Griffith, Jeremy (18 January 2020). "The science of bushfires is settled (part 2)". The Spectator. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  38. ^ "The 'extremely sinister beasts' fueling bushfires". 2GB. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  39. ^ "Eucalypts 'are incinerators from hell dressed up as trees'". Sky News Australia. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  40. ^ "The science of bushfires is settled (part 2)". The Spectator. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
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