| Topic: |
Science > Philosophy |
| User: |
"Immortalist" |
| Date: |
15 Nov 2004 01:57:57 PM |
| Object: |
Culture Selected the Genes (& visa versa) |
Now, however, what defines a kin group is not
the coincidence of genes and locales, but the
social structure that plays on our
tendencies to behave.
....the secret of the mind's sudden emergence lies in the activation of a
mechanism both obedient to physical laws and unique to the human species. Somehow
the evolving species kindled a Promethean fire, a self-sustaining reaction that
carried humanity beyond the previous limits of biology. This largely unknown
evolutionary process we have called gene-culture coevolution: it is a
complicated, fascinating interaction in which culture is generated and shaped by
biological imperatives while biological traits are simultaneously altered by
genetic evolution in response to cultural innovation. ...gene-culture
coevolution, alone and unaided, has created man and that the manner in which the
mechanism works can be solved by a combination of techniques from the natural and
social sciences.
....certain unique and remarkable properties of the human mind result in a tight
linkage between genetic evolution and cultural history. The human genes affect
the way that the mind is formed—which stimuli are perceived and which missed, how
information is processed, the kinds of memories most easily recalled, the
emotions they are most likely to evoke, and so forth. The processes that create
such effects are called the epigenetic rules. The rules are rooted in the
particularities of human biology, and they influence the way culture is formed.
For example, outbreeding is much more likely to occur than brother-sister incest
because individuals raised closely together during the first six years of life
are rarely interested in full sexual intercourse. Certain color vocabularies are
more likely to be invented than others because of other, sensory rules entailing
the manner in which color is perceived. Mathematical models created from the
theory allow the prediction of patterns of cultural variation from a knowledge of
such epigenetic rules. It is possible in principle to go from data in cognitive
psychology to data in cultural anthropology and sociology, and then to work back
in the reverse direction.
This translation from mind to culture is half of gene-culture coevolution. The
other half is the effect that culture has on the underlying genes. Certain
epigenetic rules — that is, certain ways in which the mind develops or is most
likely to develop http://tinyurl.com/5t5t2 — cause individuals to adopt cultural
choices that enable them to survive and reproduce more successfully. Over many
generations these rules, and also the genes prescribing them, tend to increase in
the population. Hence culture affects genetic evolution, just as the genes affect
cultural evolution.
Promethean Fire - Reflections on the Origins of Mind
Charles J. Lumsdem - E.O. Wilson - 1983
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1583484256/
http://www.heise.de/tp/english/special/krea/2768/1.html
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=vf1farmgthvceb%40corp.supernews.com
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=ujua4vhteukj43%40corp.supernews.com
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=oP6dnXqu07fnoiLd4p2dnA%40comcast.com
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