EVOLUTION: REPLICATION AND SURVIVAL

“Survival of the fittest”, “Law of the jungle,” “To the winner goes the spoils.”

These are expressions that encapsulate the basic goal or product of evolution and the core of the Darwinian revolution of modern science. Wherever we look today, we observe that the universe operates on this principle. Discovered in the writings of Darwin and rediscovered in the writings of earlier and later writers, the idea is that life and time follows patterns. These patterns can be reduced to cycles that form the basis of the human experience. To view life as a series of cycles would seem to be routine – birth, maturation, death. This is the cycle of an individual’s life. In the broader context, a life is a mere step away from the larger cycles that connect us to the world that we experience and depend upon for our existence.

In its simplest form a cycle is binary event, It is either exists “yes” or does not “no.” i.e. “Existence” or “Nonexistence.” The question for human's has been how to bridge the gap between “existence” and “non-existence.” How does nature promote continuity. For some 3 plus billion years, Nature has sorted through infinite variations of this simple binary formula and produced a near infinite number of variations in forms or  the continuity of we call "life."  Nature also "found" a method that brings about continuity, the process of evolution, 

In the Judaeo-Christian Bible, creation begins in the book of Genesis with an infinite spirit who starts the process of evolution over a 7-day period. As anthropologists, we found that every sociocultural system studied has a creation story, or myth. These, as Joseph Campbell and other folklorists have demonstrated, differ widely in the specifics yet conform to the same general pattern. A creation story describes an arch or cycle The specifics reflect the history and place of the people who hold to the myths, legends, etc.  All stories attempt to bridge the divide between the known "Yes" and unknown “No” reality with a “Maybe.”

“Maybe” what?

The “What” is some form of continuity that bridges the cycle. It explains or leaves open to interpretation the “from where” and “to where.” Because we live within the cycle, we must rely on others to explain how this continuity happens.To explain what we experience, Humans have invented the concept of the supernatural or religion . 

Religion draws upon the human animal’s ability to conceive of an event which is considered to be possible, but not actually experienced. It is our ability to think of time in terms of past, present, and future and to our place ourselves within time.

Humans rely on a kind of emotional response to events, We experience events individually, but interpret them through the meanings of others give to it. We call this “faith.”  “Faith” enables humans to assume that ta meaningful cycle will repeat. It is by “faith” that we assume and explain the fact that the cycle does repeat. Faith is one answer to the question of “maybe.” “Maybe there is life after death”. “Maybe the event is part of a recurring cycle.” “Maybe the recurring cycle has a rhythm.”  The other answer is “doubt”. “Maybe this is all there is.” “Maybe people are wrong.” "Maybe this is random noise."

The modern idea of evolution is a human formulation of  “faith and doubt.” As concepts, they are the objective value we give to the event. It is the value that gives objects conceptual meaning. The value and meaning derive from the emotional feeling one experiences when confronting or thinking about the event. “Meaning” partitions the emotional experience from the situational context and assigns a positive or negative value to the meaning.

“Value” is the emotional orientation of "meaning in context". In anthropological terms, we can think of “value” = “function” and “meaning” = “structure.” Faith is the  assumption that the “meaning and value” is real and make up the ideational dimension of Culture.  “Doubt” is culture's failure to relate the meaning and value of cultural symbols to.personal experience. 

  Biological evolution, demonstrated by Charlies Darwin and confirmed by Wallace, opened the door for us to understand the reason for “maybe.” It provides a model of order and sequence for the  biological events we observe. Evolution, however, is much broader that simple biology. And today we use the concept to describe a process where and how “maybe” events occur.

 What is the “maybe”?

An event is defined as a bounded period of time. A “Maybe” emerges from the simple process of defining an event in terms of its “life-cycle.” A life-cycle is the period of time that an observer identifies or experiences, the event. An event is nothing more than the binary sequence “No” or Yes.” That is, No, there is nothing happening and Yes, there is something happening. “ Between each “No” couplet, there is a “Yes” and between each “Yes” couplet there is a “NO”. We can translate the two basic processes that are at the heart of life as  Survival and Replication. Survival (Yes!) is measured in time between two “No” events. And Replication is the emergence of a Yes, either through the creation of a new YES, or the creation of a unique variation of a “Yes”.

In evolutionary terms, Survival is measured by how long an individual or life-cycle event lasts. Replication, on the other hand, is the generation of a repeated event patterns. A single note from a piano survives as long as the string struck by the hammer vibrates. On the other hand, replication takes place every time the same string is struck by the same hammer.  

Individuals, whether they are notes on a piano, or individual human are linked through a replication process. Such events are linked through a physical or conceptual “cause and effect” relationship. As anthropologists our job is to understand how   Survival (beliefs and practices) and Replication (beliefs and practices).helps humans to configure their universe in terms of Culture.

Culture, the fluid “Maybe”:

            The human biological evolution is and has been the central question of anthropology. Today the differential rates of cultural survival and replication might be hard to see given the rapid radiation of Western and Neo-western society.[1] Yet, as the human species has becomes more socially homogeneous, it is becoming more specialized in its cultures, It has also become more diverse in its physical and technological forms. The emergence of a global society plays a more and more significant role in the lives of ordinary people. Their daily lives are material influenced by the changing nature that the survival and replication functions of the species. 

Anthropology is the study of the human species, its complexity and evolution through time and place. At its core is the role played by cultures (local ideational systems of faith) and Culture (the bio-social-psychological system of species survival and replication). Modern anthropology is a child of Darwin and those who have followed. Anthropology is the search for the Yes’ and No’s in the vast expanse of Human “Maybe’s”. That is, the goal of anthropology is to challenge universal “doubt” and seek universal “faith.”[2]

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[1] I am defining as “Neo-western” those societies created out western European colonialism and have adopted the western European philosophical ideals of scholarship and science. This does not mean that all individuals in a given society hold to the philosophy. As described earlier, “faith” is the human emotional answer to “maybe.” Western ideals are only one of a multi-complex set of philosophies and methods for addressing “maybe.” Anthropology is the field of study that has emerged or evolved in Western European culture. It seeks to bridge the gap of “faiths” and find a holistic understanding of humankind – its origin, survival and replication as the dominate species on the planet Earth.

[2] Anthropology is the blend of scientific method and humanistic meaning. Our discipline seeks to know how we fit into the natural world, and how we have progressed to the top of the evolutionary ladder. We also want to understand what this means and how long it might last. We want to understand the why and how we (as a species) come to occupy this position and what it means for us, our environment and our future. What “value” is there in humanity? That is, can we give meanings and values to our “faith” and “doubts.”? And if so, can we use the knowledge to avoid extinction.

The Superorganic Strategy for Survival

Last night, I was surfing the Internet and happened to find this movie, Africa The Serengeti, on Hulu. I'd seen it before and it had a strong impact on me at the time. I found this particular sequence below still has the same impact on me. I hope you can see past the brutality to the honest beauty of life that I found in it.

In 1994, I had the opportunity to see Africa: The Serengeti in IMAX at the Boston Museum of Science. It was a particularly difficult time in my personal life.

In 1984, I began a decade long odyssey that took me from Tucson,Arizona where I had built a life, back to my home town, Providence,R.I. with the idea of beginning a new adventure. But things did not turn as I planned when I began the odyssey. I experienced many changes and disappointments over the following decade. I was still trying to come to terms with these when I saw the movie.

The day I went to the Science Museum, a friend's 10 year old grand daughter was visiting her. We arranged with another couple, who had a niece the same age visiting, to take the girls on a day trip to Boston. The Museum of Science was one of several stops we planned. Going to the IMAX was a spur of the moment decision. A decision that was to be mind changing for me.

The feature film that day was Africa: The Serengeti.. The plot centers around the Serengeti Plain in East Africa, a 500 mile long grassland that stretches from Tanzania in the south to the northern borders of Kenya. The story follows the annual cycle of the plant and animal life that inhabit the plain as they adjust to the seasons and challenges these present.

The stars of the movie are the Serengeti and the African wildebeest (an antelope designed by committee)with a cast of thousands. The large supporting cast include lions, zebra, elephants, jackals, gazelle, vultures, crocodiles,cheetah, etc.. Brutally honest in its portrayal of life on the plain and the relationships between plants and animals, predator and prey, the film is a far cry from the sanitized Disney Wildlife films of my youth.

It was this honesty, more than anything else, which struck me. In the sequence below I experienced an epiphany that had a lasting impact on my outlook on life.





The film is available at http://www.hulu.com and is Sponsored by the Micheal J. Fox Foundation http://www.michaeljfox.org/


The scene of the herd trying to cross the river upset and saddened me. It seemed such a tremendous waste and cost to the herd, and especially inhumane for the individual animals. I came away from the movie disturbed. I was also concerned about how the girls had taken it. It turns out that they didn't seem as bothered as I was.

I reflected on the scene and the following scene about the calving. I suddenly realized that the early deaths were required for the new generation to have a chance. This is the strategy that the super-organic entity -- the wildebeest herd and species -- has evolved to insure its survival. It defines the role of the individual within that strategy. Each individual is responsible for its actions and the consequences, Yet regardless of the individual outcome, that outcome contributes to the survival of the herd and the species.

What is the super-organic? It is the wildebeest family, the wildebeest herd, the herbivores, the predator/prey complex, the Serengeti itself. And the Serengeti is but one small super-organic system on a planet, we humans call Earth.

I realized that I could put my own wounds behind me.I had to move on to survive.

Suddenly I saw my place is in something greater than myself.I realize that I am but a small actor in the much larger picture -- the super-organic entity that is humanity.

How does one define the Superorganic?

Herbert Spencer, the nineteenth century evolutionist, coined the term "super-organic." to focus on social organization In the first chapter of his Principles of Sociology , entitled "Super-organic Evolution", he argues for a distinction between the organic and the social domains. He does this by exploring the holistic nature of society as a social organism. He distinguishes how society do not behave like a biological organism. For Spencer, the super-organic was an emergent property of interacting organisms, such as human beings, as distinguished from being a transcend property of the individual.

The American anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber (1876-1960) defined "super-organic" as certain cultural aspects that do not directly originate from individuals within the society.

The question is: What is the relationship between the organic and super-organic, as they relate to the concept of life? Is the super-organic alive? Is it an emergent phenomenon at the organic level which provides the foundation for the emergent super-organic life forms?

The requirements for life are, according to Paul Davis (1998, The Fifth Mircle) and Peter Ward (2005, Life as we don’t know it)

Life metabolizes
Life has complexity and organization
Life reproduces
Life develops
Life evolves
Life is autonomous

By these criteria culture, as a super-organic form, is an emergent life form. Existing in a non-physical form but impacting the physical world, cultures have a display all of the requirements.

Super-organic entities, or cultures, or socio-cultural systems (however one calls them)

metabolize — economic and technological systems
complexity and organization — individual roles and status bound in institutional structures

Reproduce — recruit children born to members or acculturate individuals brought into the group via biological or social means

Develop — enculturating new born or acculturating new recruits to prevailing rules and behavioral through an educational process

Evolve — societies and cultures have demonstrate their ability and inability to adapt to their changing environment(s) [Ecological and archaeological studies prove this]

Autonomy — super-organic institutions claim and defend their sovereign right to exist and do so by requiring its human members, and social members to subordinate themselves to the institution by separating themselves from other competing institutions. Super-organic institutions demand loyalty.

Rather than a transcendental or metaphysical phenomena, culture defined in a super-organic sense is a legitimate subject for scientific investigation. This is especially true with modern computer modeling and practical experiments such as in the social networking taking place on the Internet.