To Our Readers

By ELIZABETH VALK LONG President

One of the most provocative pieces we have published in some time was our Aug. 15 cover story arguing that humans are genetically predisposed to sexual infidelity. It drew nearly 800 letters from readers (many predictably indignant), the fourth largest mail response to any story this year. That article was based on a current book that is also stirring debate among readers and scientists: The Moral Animal: Evolutionary Psychology and Everyday Life (Pantheon; $27.50). The New York Times called it "a feast of great thinking and writing about the most profound issues there are."

The author of both the cover story and the book has become TIME's newest contributor. He is Robert Wright, a senior editor of the New Republic and a writer who specializes in the human side of science. Wright designed The Moral Animal as an introduction to the new field of evolutionary psychology, the study of the genetic basis of human emotion and thought. "The everyday feelings that guide us through our lives are the products of evolution -- among them are guilt, compassion, envy, love, lust, our sense of justice," he says. If that sounds like a prescription for predetermination, even fatalism, Wright points out that what is natural is not necessarily unchangeable. "The good news," he says, "is that qualities like conscience and a sense of justice have a biological basis. The bad news is that we are designed to deploy these gifts in self-serving ways -- at least sometimes. We can't counteract genes until we know more about them." Learning more about basic issues in science and technology has been a lifelong passion for Wright, 37. His first book was Three Scientists and Their Gods (1988), which alternated profiles with essays on science and philosophy. Born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and educated at Princeton, he lives with his wife and two young daughters in Washington. He will start a new book "when I get over this one."

Says senior editor Charles Alexander, who will be working with Wright: "Bob is a rare writer -- a scholar who surveys materials intended for professionals and then makes the information accessible to the general reader, adding his own perceptive interpretations. He can cover a lot of different areas in a really vivid, readable style." We look forward to hearing more from Wright as he analyzes developments in an exciting era in science.