(Ok so I love to write and I have a lot to say about a lot of different things. Yes I love ultimate, A LOT, but I also like a lot of other things as well. I wanted the chance to get some things out that were not ultimate related so I thought I would start a second blog for that.)
Modern Evolution
So I saw this movie called Waking Life a while back and it really had an impact on me. Granted, you need to be a little "sizzled" up for this sort of movie to make any sense but it is very interesting if you have the mental capacity. Anyway, the basic plot line revolves around free dreaming, ie realizing that you are asleep in your dream, thereby giving you the control to do whatever you want. This is a fun topic but I am not interested in it. What I am interested in is the second topic that is popular in this movie, Modern Evolution.
So this is a weird topic because it challenges a lot of preconceived notions. At first mention, a word like "Evolution" inspires thoughts of dinosaurs, and cave men, maybe some amphibious sort of fish thing. However, the topic itself is much more than that. In my opinion, human beings think that we are done evolving (and one can argue that we are close) but in reality, we are just impatient. Evolution takes so long and moves so slowly that it is hard to see it in a lifetime or even a century or two. However, evolution is still occurring whether we can see it or not.
So what am I talking about? I thought I would discuss a few elements of human evolution that I think are going on and they make sense if looked at in the right perspective.
A Bit on Perspective
What do I mean about the right perspective? Everything happens for a reason. Our fingernails, appendix, social inclinations, even why asians glow when they drink, all have an evolutionary basis. No element of our bodies just hangs around, there has to be selective pressure for it and the trick to is to understand the selective pressure.
The Asian Glow
This is one of my favorite things to talk about at parties, usually because I seek out asians and it is a good conversation starter. Anybody know why asians glow in the first place? There are a variety of theories on this but the one I like is the parasite hypothesis.
In alcohol metabolism there are three steps, ethanol -> acetylaldehyde -> acetate (which is a metabolite the cell can use). The 2 arrows correspond to 2 enzymes, alcohol dehydrogenase, and aldehyde dehydrogenase. The names are unimportant, but what is important is the first enzyme. It is overactive in some asian populations and generates more acetylaldehyde than normal. This intermediate is highly toxic to our bodies which is why asians have that red glow and can feel warm. It is basically an inflammation response like a cold or infection.
However, this intermediate is also toxic to other organisms, such as mosquitos and parasites. Meaning that a million years ago, if an asian person was working in the fields or simply just hanging out in a humid insect filled environment, all they needed to do was drink a little bit of rice wine, get a nice buzz going and "presto", you have a natural insecticide.
Staving off parasite infection was thus the necessary selective pressure to allow asians to survive and pass on their genes and now in the 21st century we have a relic phenotype that a lot of people are self-conscience about and should not be. Those people are living representations of modern evolution and despite the stigma, should be proud of their genes.
The Appendix
So we all know that the appendix is basically the tonsil of the digestive tract. It isn't really needed but if it goes haywire, it can cause sepsis. So why have it in the first place?
Millions of years ago, human beings were not as capable as we are now. Things like fire were a bit beyond our grasp and we had to rely on eating things we don't eat now like raw meat. At that point, the appendix served as a dead end organ that housed high concentrations of enzymes and enzyme producing bacteria that would degrade and digest this raw meat. However, after the advent of fire, we didn't really need this sort of organ anymore. Most mammals, especially predators, have this organ and it is much larger. We are an offshoot of them so we have the same evolutionary beginnings, but now we have a shriveled vestigial organ that if ruptured, will release toxic bacteria and enzymes in our body causing sepsis and peritonitis.
Like the glowing asians, the appendix is another representation of where we came from and how we have evolved even in the last million years.
What's Next?
So with these two examples, hopefully you can see how we have evolved since we first took the Homo Sapien form. However, this does not mean that we have stopped. Just because we are the dominant species on this planet and are self-aware does not mean that we are above evolution. But what kind of evolution can we expect? A third eye? A 6th finger?
A friend of mine told me that you can't determine the direction of evolution but you can determine the velocity. Wow, that is a tough statement to understand. By "direction" he meant that we cannot see where we are headed as a species because we can't predict the future. We only have hind sight. By "velocity", he meant how fast human beings are evolving which is directly related to the death rate. If a lot of people are dying, then nature is selecting one phenotype over another. In the ice ages, intelligent man was favored because he could withstand the cold. Brute strength meant nothing, all that mattered was your ability to keep warm. However, with modern medicine, a lot of people are surviving to pass on their genes. Diabetics, cancer patients, congenital heart disease, all these things are carried on, despite the fact that in the wilderness, you would not have made it. The moral issue here is too much for me to discuss but I will say that because people are all surviving more, evolution carries a different sort of face, social evolution.
Lets take a look at western culture. There is selective pressure out there and I think it favors the "improvement" of modern man. Lets take monogamy for example. A lot of people out there (mainly males) will talk about how marriage goes against nature because we were made to have multiple partners and what not. That is a very narrow minded view of human beings because we are not done evolving. With more and more social pressure to get married and more and more financial pressure to not get divorced, there is selective pressure for monogamy. There may be a lot of "stupid people breeding" but I think with the incentive to go to college and the acceleration of world wide economics, surviving in this world will increasingly depend on your intelligence.
With that in mind, those people that have the ability to remain married and lead more or less normal lifestyles with a few kids that grow up to do the same, we as human beings can evolve. We can potentially shed our animalistic roots and be capable of more sophisticated male/female interaction and progress as a species.
Another element in modern social evolution that I think is interesting is the definition of evolution itself. The initial definition has to do with phrases like "survival of the fittest" and "only the strong survive". This type of evolution favored the jocks and the nerds would never get laid. However, with ideas like those developed by Nobel Prize Winner John Nash, the best course of action is no longer the bold capitalistic competitive initiative. Things like the Nash Equilibrium teach us that it is sometimes more important to take other people's incentives into consideration because a decision based on more than one perspective is usually better than only one. We now live in a world where winning and losing does not articulate our reality well enough. The US and China are at odds with each other politically right now, but economically, a war would hurt both parties. We now need to look at things a little more carefully.
Ok blah blah blah, what do I mean? Now, things like strength and size are out shined by things like judgement, loyalty and intelligence. The ability to cooperate and spread benefit around matters more than winning and losing. Take a movie like Dr. Strangelove. A dark comedy, but it articulates why winning is not good for anybody. In nuclear war you have MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction. Both parties are better off not competing but cooperating. We as a populace should lean away from direct competition and more towards mutually beneficial circumstances. This idea can be applied to everything from world wide economic theory to politics to male/female relationships. I already mentioned the China/US example (economics) but with things like gay marriage and abortion, a political view point is better suited with cooperative legislation as opposed to who is right or wrong. Same with boy friends and girl friends. In relationships, power seems to be the coveted prize but sometimes winning an argument is less important than seeing the far reaching implications of competition. This is where things like picking your battles and understanding other people's perspectives becomes important.
Communication between couples, nations and businesses is better than competition and with this sort of mind set, cooperation can occur and we as a people can evolve beyond our current survival of the fittest mentality. It has worked for us to get this far, but as our society evolves so must our ability to understand and utilize it.
just my thoughts
match unleaded
0 comments:
Post a Comment