Vladimir Oane's Key Ideas from Why Buddhism is True
by Robert Wright

The human brain was designed – by natural selection – to mislead us, even enslave us:

• Evolutionary, animals that crave things that will help them survive & reproduce are better served by feeling satisfaction. A creature that continually needs to strive in order to satisfy its cravings is more likely to reproduce. Lasting happiness is not something that comes easily to human beings.
• Natural selection has no inherent bias towards truth. We are prone to delusion and illusion. 

We are living in an unreal circle of unhappiness.

Emotions can be regarded as automatic judgements about our environment. For instance, anger and fear promote defensive reactions (fight or flight in the face of a threat) to improve our chances of survival; lust fuels sexual activity; and pleasure provides positive reinforcement for evolutionary goals.

But these reflex judgements are not always accurate. For instance, social justice movements the world over have struggled to bring our unconscious inferences about gender or otherness into conscious consideration,