Professor John Nilsson-Wright talks to Dr Nick Wright, a neuroscientist and adviser to the Pentagon Joint Staff who researches the brain, technology and security at University College London, Georgetown University, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the National Defence University in Washington, DC. They consider how fear, perception, misperception, and memory are tied to different physiological elements of the brain, and how they influence our predisposition to engage in conflict. While we may be conditioned to engage in conflict, we also have the capacity, unlike other species, to reflect on our own internal mental processes — a capacity that offers an optimistic basis for minimising the risk of conflict in the future.