タグ別アーカイブ: evolution

Genetics of Good and Evil


The genetic explanation of good and evil above, though reasonable, may be a little too simplistic. Many morbid things are considered great or noble. Mindless brutality in wars, 例えば, is thought of as a noble act of courage and sacrifice. Certain cruel social or cultural practices were once considered noble and are now considered abominable. Slavery, 例えば, is one such custom that changed its moral color. The practice of slavery was condoned in some parts of the world while slave liberation was frowned upon, in an exact reversal of the current moral attitude.

Can we understand these apparent paradoxes in terms of our DNA replication algorithm? What exactly is the scope of the DNA replication algorithm? 明らかに, it cannot be that a DNA wants (or is programmed) to replicate all DNAs. We would not be able to eat or survive in that case. Even the maxim “survival of the fittest” would not make any sense. Neither can it be that a DNA wants exact clones of itself. それは本当だったら, it would not take a father and a mother to make a baby.





参照: This post is an excerpt from my book, アンリアル·ユニバース.

End of Evolution

To a physicist, life is a neat example of electromagnetic interaction. To a biologist, しかしながら, life is a DNA replication algorithm. Let’s mull over the biology view for a few moments.

The genes in our body have only one motive–to get replicated. Our body is created in accordance with a blue print encoded in the genes to “run” this algorithm. How this algorithm gets mapped to our higher level goals and emotions is what life is all about to most people who are not physicists or biologists.

A simple mapping of this algorithm leads to the maxim in evolution “the survival of the fittest.” Any mutation that has the tiniest advantage in terms of survivability gets amplified over time. 同様に, all disadvantaged genes get wiped out.

But evolution in humans (and through our influence, the whole echo-system) has taken a new turn. Survival of the fittest used to mean the survival of the strongest or the smartest. 例えば, if I had a genetic condition that made me prone to some life-threatening disease (言い換えると, if I was not very strong), my chances of passing on my genes would be a little smaller.

しかしながら, because of the advances in medicine, そのような不利な遺伝子の生存確率は、他の種の生存確率とほぼ同じレベルに正規化されます,,en,医療の質がお金に依存しているため,,en,裕福な人々に有利に生き残りの可能性がゆがんでくる,,en,DNAアルゴリズムのマッピングです,,en,最も裕福な人の生存,,en,富は知性の産物と考えられています,,en,しかし、知性,,en,お金を稼ぐ能力によって定義される,,en,必ずしも遺伝的ではない,,en,しかし、私たちはまだそれを知りません,,en,数世代にわたって,,en,生き残るのは最も裕福でもない,,en,時間は生存の可能性を平均化するからです,,en,それで、正確に生き残ります,,en,電磁相互作用,,en. その後、再び, because of the dependence of the quality of health care on money, the survival chances get distorted in favor of the rich. そう, is the mapping of the DNA algorithm now “the survival of the richest?”

Wealth is considered a product of intelligence. But intelligence (as defined by money-making ability) is not necessarily genetic. It may be, but we do not know that yet. So over several generations, it is not even the richest that survive, because time averages out the survival chances.

So what exactly is going to survive?



Evolution is usually described as “the survival of the fittest,” or as species evolving to adapt to the environment. To survive, to evolve, to adapt—these are action verbs, implying some kind of intention or general plan. But there is a curious inversion of logic, or reversal of causality in the theory of evolution. This is almost the opposite of intention or plan.



