Ray’s Thought for the Day - Happy Evolution
Evolution happens when some genotypes get preferential treatment by the environment as compared to other genotypes. The reward for the preferred genotypes is lots of offspring littering the landscape. But the environment does not prefer one genotype over another up front, usually. Instead, the environment interacts with phenotypes, those corporeal manifestations of the genotypes that we are all familiar with.
A happy phenotype is one that gets its way often enough to feel, well, happy. I am not sure if feeling happy most of the time confers a selective advantage, but it might. Assuming that happy feelings do confer a selective advantage, the happy phenotypes are more likely to litter the landscape with offspring than sad phenotypes. A sad phenotype is one that hardly ever gets its way.
But what if a phenotype can convince itself that it is getting its way, regardless of mounting evidence to the contrary. That phenotype would be happy and more likely to litter the landscape than a sad phenotype and just as likely, maybe, to litter the landscape, as a phenotype that actually gets its way most of the time and has lots of genuine reasons to be happy.
Continuing with the original premise, to whit, feeling happy confers a selective advantage, then the ability to delude oneself about what is going on in the human environment could confer a most serious, and happy at the same time, selective advantage. Now, one thing that is very important to phenotypes in the human environment is other human phenotypes. Most phenotypes are reassured and happy when other phenotypes seem in accord with their phenotype. Thus, one phenotype may say to some others, “So, we are all agreed.” The other phenotypes nod happily and away they all go, littering, reassured that their phenotype is on the right track.
Evolution wise, this all works great, happy phenotypes seeming to get their ways, leaving lotsa litter. But as everyone knows, big disasters, natural or man-made, don’t waste time selecting one phenotype over another. Big disasters select against all the phenotypes at once. That tsunami is an example. In some locations, all the phenotypes got wiped. The genuinely happy, the deluded happy and the sad, all perished simultaneously as did their litters.
For the nonce then though, let’s examine some harmless mass delusions that have made lots of phenotypes happy over the ages. First, the earth is flat. Everyone was happy with that one for many moons. Second, the sun orbits the earth, another happy harmless delusion that was unlikely to cause a disaster or even get one selected out. Er! Er, that’s all the harmless ones I can remember.
But there are lots of delusions that made many phenotypes happy over the ages that have turned out to be dangerous due to their potential to cause local or even global disasters. The big one in this category is, the sun god prefers my phenotype. And since he prefers my phenotype, he talks to me and provides me with endless amounts of nice stuff that the other phenotypes are trying to keep away from me. The sun god says its Okie Dokie to smite those other phenotypes, all righty then.
Meantime, here comes the Wicker Man. Praise the Goddess.
A happy phenotype is one that gets its way often enough to feel, well, happy. I am not sure if feeling happy most of the time confers a selective advantage, but it might. Assuming that happy feelings do confer a selective advantage, the happy phenotypes are more likely to litter the landscape with offspring than sad phenotypes. A sad phenotype is one that hardly ever gets its way.
But what if a phenotype can convince itself that it is getting its way, regardless of mounting evidence to the contrary. That phenotype would be happy and more likely to litter the landscape than a sad phenotype and just as likely, maybe, to litter the landscape, as a phenotype that actually gets its way most of the time and has lots of genuine reasons to be happy.
Continuing with the original premise, to whit, feeling happy confers a selective advantage, then the ability to delude oneself about what is going on in the human environment could confer a most serious, and happy at the same time, selective advantage. Now, one thing that is very important to phenotypes in the human environment is other human phenotypes. Most phenotypes are reassured and happy when other phenotypes seem in accord with their phenotype. Thus, one phenotype may say to some others, “So, we are all agreed.” The other phenotypes nod happily and away they all go, littering, reassured that their phenotype is on the right track.
Evolution wise, this all works great, happy phenotypes seeming to get their ways, leaving lotsa litter. But as everyone knows, big disasters, natural or man-made, don’t waste time selecting one phenotype over another. Big disasters select against all the phenotypes at once. That tsunami is an example. In some locations, all the phenotypes got wiped. The genuinely happy, the deluded happy and the sad, all perished simultaneously as did their litters.
For the nonce then though, let’s examine some harmless mass delusions that have made lots of phenotypes happy over the ages. First, the earth is flat. Everyone was happy with that one for many moons. Second, the sun orbits the earth, another happy harmless delusion that was unlikely to cause a disaster or even get one selected out. Er! Er, that’s all the harmless ones I can remember.
But there are lots of delusions that made many phenotypes happy over the ages that have turned out to be dangerous due to their potential to cause local or even global disasters. The big one in this category is, the sun god prefers my phenotype. And since he prefers my phenotype, he talks to me and provides me with endless amounts of nice stuff that the other phenotypes are trying to keep away from me. The sun god says its Okie Dokie to smite those other phenotypes, all righty then.
Meantime, here comes the Wicker Man. Praise the Goddess.
posted by ray pistrum at Monday, August 07, 2006
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