Welcome to: The Self-Talking President
The whole network is the most serious nonsense
Today, let's talk about the truth about a human being, we are all slaves to genes.
The first time I heard this story was when I was just entering the university, in a field practice, my sister suddenly told me this story.
I said with a confused face that this principle only applies to animals and plants, and human beings are thinking higher animals.
Then, my sister told me about a book called "The Selfish Gene."
After reading the book, I felt that the whole world was broken, it turned out that the most beautiful things in the world, family affection, love, are actually just genetic tricks to control us...
Today, I will share this desperate story with you, and you will also see if we have a way to resist genes.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > war in the womb</h1>
Fast forward 100 years, in 1914, a scientist named Robert William Johnstone did an experiment in which he took the embryonic cells of a cow out of the womb and implanted them in the cow's brain, testicles, and eyes, and he wanted to try to grow embryonic cells outside the uterus. He had thought that embryonic cells would quickly shrink and die. But the result shocked him.
He found that the embryonic cells were killing the surrounding tissue cells, rampaged, quickly implanted, became placenta, and then began to frantically absorb nutrients. Embryos develop almost like cancer cells.
Johnstone inhaled a cool breath, no wonder the inner wall of the uterus was filled with countless deadly immune cells.
It turns out that the truth of everything and human cognition are completely opposite, pregnant in October, mother and child are not harmonious symbiosis at all, the womb is not the "best environment" for conceiving embryos at all, the womb is actually the purgatory of embryos...
Later scientists repeated the experiment on mice, and combined with further physiological studies, they came to some conclusions:
1, for the mother, she is best to have many fetuses in a row, so that she can copy as many copies of her genes as possible;
2, for the fetus, he wants to ensure that his genes can survive, he will absorb as much maternal nutrition as possible, regardless of the mother's life and death.
3, the mother's womb, will only allow the fetus to get the nutrition that can just ensure survival, while minimizing its loss.
4, the fetus will reverse the delivery of hormones to the mother, such as epinephrine, increase the mother's blood pressure, glucagon, increase the mother's blood sugar, angiogenesis, increase the mother's blood flow and heartbeat. It's all about squeezing more energy out of the mother.
5, the uterus is always vigilant against the fetus, monitoring the fetus, once it is found that the fetus asks too much, or there is some unhealth, it will immediately prevent the fetus from obtaining more resources, stop supplying the fetus, and excrete it from the body.
6, in order to prevent the fetus from being discharged, it will prick the blood vessels very deeply, forcing the mother to risk heavy bleeding if she wants to give up on herself, which will even endanger the life of the mother.
7, in order to retain the right to discharge the fetus at any time, the mother would rather bear the pain of the endometrium falling off once a month, so that it is for practice, no matter how deep the fetal blood vessels are, it is impossible for him to rely on it.
It turned out that the pregnancy in October was a big battle between mother and son in the womb.
All motherly filial piety, human morality, is deconstructed by this physiological discovery - from the moment the embryo implants, the fetus is fighting with the mother.
The purpose of fighting is only one: genes leave more copies for themselves.
There is only one reason to fight: genes are selfish, and they will do whatever it takes to achieve their ends.
This experiment allows us to see the selfishness of genes and lays the foundation for the book "Selfish Genes".
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > deconstructed</h1>
Open "The Selfish Gene", and the first thing it does is deconstruct maternal love.
After being born in the womb and coming to the world of humanity, does your mother really love you?
It's not, it's just the genes in her body that tell her that she must protect the genes in your body.
Because, half of your genes are the same. And she's old, she's done the task that genes gave him to reproduce, and you haven't, you're more valuable to genes. So, in a critical situation, Gene will order her to die to save you.
Like the story of the mother antelope that scientists photographed in Africa, in order to protect the cubs, the mother will send herself to the mouth of the crocodile...
Then "The Selfish Gene" deconstructs the most beautiful thing in the second human world - love.
Love, like maternal love, is a genetic trick.
First of all, the cost of reproduction for women is very high, which we can see from the womb war.
However, the cost of reproduction for men is very, very low.
To balance this cost difference, the woman must ask the man to buy a house and a car, must have a diamond ring, must use a wedding commitment, and you will take care of me for the rest of your life.
Because, for the high cost of the woman, it must let another low-cost gene to provide better living conditions for itself, so the vast majority of animals in nature have the behavior of courtship and mate selection. This is actually a transaction in which genes are trying to equalize their respective costs.
In general, the party with low gene cost (usually male) courtship, and the party with high gene cost (usually female) chooses a mate.
For example, the hippocampus is the father who gives birth to the child, the father raises the child, so the genetic cost of the male becomes higher, so will the relationship between mate selection and courtship be interchangeable? The answer is yes, and the scientists have come up with an experimental data that the male seahorse eventually chooses a female seahorse, usually with more eggs than the female seahorse that he rejects, about 60 percent more. This is a bit similar to one of the human mate selection criteria "rich and handsome" - rich.
Another example of a horror point - the praying mantis, the mantis's genetic balancing strategy is very rough. The female mantis directly eats the male mantis that is mating with her, and the male mantis's genes order him to remain motionless.
Sometimes, in order to court, human beings will also do the same thing as male mantises, we call this sacrifice and the vow to love only one person in a lifetime love, and in fact, behind this is the transaction made by the genes of both sides when balancing the cost, and then, the genes manipulate the body through hormones, so that the body feels happy, feels happy, and feels that it can fight for the other half. And the root of all this is that genes must find another 1/2 before they can reproduce on their own.
Affection, love, maternal love... "The Selfish Gene" calls it all "genetic machines."
When I saw this, I was really punched by the word "genetic machine."
I closed the book and wanted to see who the author was who could write such a desperate word as "genetic machine".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Dawkins</h1>
It turned out that his name was Richard Dawkins, darwin's Rottweiler.
In 2015, the British newspaper The Guardian once interviewed Dawkins, 74, and Dawkins said that today he was very happy that his second autobiography was published, and he felt that he was only 25 years old.
At the end of the interview, the Guardian asked if you had said that women's love was a reason for you to live. Why? If you were a hundred years later, would you have any regrets?
Dawkins replied that someone had asked the English poet John Betjeman the same question, and his answer was that he had not had enough sex. That's my answer, too.
This is Dawkins, 74 years old and still so fierce. And the book "The Selfish Gene" was written when he was 35 years old.
The same person, 35 years old is generally much more violent than 74 years old, so how fierce is the word gene machine? What exactly is being said? Let's move on.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > genetic machine</h1>
In the beginning, Darwin said, evolution is based on individual units, natural selection, survival of the fittest.
It's like you and I go hiking in the forest and suddenly bump into a tiger, this tiger is "natural selection", we both become "things", so what are we "competing" for? Who is stronger than us and tigers? Obviously not, because, I just need to run faster than you, I am the survival of the fittest, you are the unwell eliminated...
Therefore, this competition is actually a competition between the same kind.
However, the problem is that the competition between the same kind obviously does not explain the maternal love behavior of the antelope above. So how exactly is maternal love explained by natural selection?
It wasn't until the 1930s that scientists came forward to answer this question, saying that the basic unit of evolution is not individuals, but groups, groups that go through the process of natural selection.
In this way, sacrificing the small self and achieving the big self, maternal love can explain that this altruistic behavior is to make the group better survive.
However, the theory of group evolution still does not explain certain phenomena, such as the self-denial behavior of groundhogs, when the predator approaches the rat herd, the first groundhog to find danger will stand up and shout, call the police to his companions, and also let himself be found and eaten by the predator. At first glance, this behavior is consistent with the theory of group evolution, but scientists have further studied this phenomenon with experiments and found that it is unreasonable:
The first, group A, called an alarm (60%) out of 50 attacks;
The second, group B, only 3 of the 50 attacks were called to the police (6%);
Third, group C, 40 out of 50 attacks were called to the police (75%);
The same group, why do marmots have such a strong selective self-denial?
How to explain this problem?
By the 1950s, scientists were patching the theory of group evolution again, saying that the basic unit of evolution was not individuals, nor groups, but genes. By natural selection, it is genes that are selected.
Continuing to look at that experiment, it turned out that Group A was a group of brothers and cousins; Group B was a group of melon-eating masses; Group C was a group of wives and children.
The genetic composition of the population is different, from a genetic point of view:
Group C, sacrificing oneself, saving one's wife and children, thus preserving 1/2 of one's genes.
Group A, sacrificing itself, protects the brothers, thus preserving 1/2 (brother), 1/4 (half-brother) and 1/8 (cousin) genes.
Group C, sacrificing oneself, preserving the melon-eating masses, genes have no benefit.
It turns out that the gene is controlling the groundhog alarm, and the larger the proportion of genes that can be saved, the higher the probability of alarm.
So far, the theory of genetic evolution seems to explain many natural phenomena, and then the logic of the word "gene machine" is constructed.
Since natural selection is the selection of genes, then all organisms in the world, whether individuals or groups, whether ants or humans, are actually genetic manipulation machines, and human bodies, families and families are just tools for genes to survive and reproduce in natural selection. The human body is a machine, and genes are the drivers of this machine. If the machine breaks down, it doesn't matter, the same genetic driver may still be driving several other machines in your home.
In short, the machine is a pile of scrap iron, and the driver is the core.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > zombie ant</h1>
There is a kind of zombie ant that illustrates this very well.
This zombie ant will climb desperately to the tallest trunk.
Because it has been infected by a zombie fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis), the ant machine has been controlled by another genetic driver. It controls the ants, climbs to the top, and then releases its own spores to allow its genes to spread more widely.
So, you think you're human, but in fact, you're no different from this ant, you're a slave to your genes, and your genes are manipulating you and helping it spread. When you are old, the gene will feel that you are old and not good, and he will also order the gene to start performing the self-destruct program, let you die of old age, or let you die at a critical moment, in short, create more chances of survival for its offspring as soon as possible.
Is this really the case? This is too hard to accept.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > rebel against genetic tyranny</h1>
Dawkins then added that humans are the only species that can rebel against genetic tyranny because they have thoughts and think.
And the weapon of human resistance to genetic tyranny is called meme (MEME, meme, mime, mime).
Memes, like genes, copy, spread, and evolve, genes exist in our bodies and reproduce to replicate, spread, and evolve, while memes exist in our brains and replicate, spread, and evolve by imitation.
Memes are what we call cultural genes. Why does pink represent a girl? Blue represents boys? Why can't I wear a big red cheongsam at a funeral? Why can't I work on Sundays? Why believe in God? Why suspect governments of concealing alien information? Why does a stalk quickly spread across the Internet? These unexplained cultural phenomena are called memes.
In the book, Dawkins says that animals can't rebel against genetic tyranny, but you'll find that many humans are rebelling against genetic tyranny with the help of unique memes in their brains, for example, some people who pursue freedom, yearn for solitude, and become Dink; and others who pursue religious beliefs, who choose to become monks and abstinent.
There is no doubt that at this time, memes have triumphed over genes, and humans are no longer genetic machines. Human beings can believe in love again, because love and affection are all memes exclusive to human beings.
Did the story end so beautifully? It doesn't seem to be yet, and we keep looking.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > dangerous meme</h1>
Fast forward to 2009, and a philosopher is giving a lecture called "Dangerous Memes."
His name was Daniel Dennett.
He also told the story of a zombie ant.
He said that an ant climbed to the top of a small grass and fell, and then it climbed to the top again, and it fell down again, and it climbed again, and it fell again, and it always wanted to stay at the top of the grass.
Why? What is its purpose?
The answer is: no.
Since there is no benefit to it, why should it do it? Is it just a coincidence?
Yes, it was just a coincidence, a coincidence that a double-chamber fluke invaded his brain, and the double-cavity fluke began to control the ants, treating the ants as a machine, and the parasites in the brain made the ants repeat this suicidal behavior continuously, until finally, it was exhausted, which was quite terrible.
And what is hijacking our human brains? Not bugs, but thoughts, memes.
Then, Dennett, uttered a sentence that was even more terrifying than a zombie ant:
You may have thought that "Islam" means "obedience"...
Dennett went on to say that only a small percentage of people have been hijacked by memes?
No, the situation is quite bad, almost everyone has been hijacked.
These memes are called freedom, justice, hatred, love, and so on.
His remarks tell an even more frightening truth: you think you can beat genes with memes, but in fact, memes are just another driver who controls you. Moreover, it is more terrifying than genes, it hijacks your brain, and then, through your mouth, it spreads like a virus, the meme is poisonous, and once infected by it, it will make you feel that it is natural and correct.
From selfish genes to genetic slaves to weapons against genes, memes, and then to Dennett's mouth, dangerous memes. These are all the stories that my sister told me back then, animals are slaves to genes, and humans are not only slaves to genes, but also slaves to memes.
Nine to five, three o'clock a line, no time to think, no time to fall in love, save money, buy a house, get married, have a baby, have a baby and a baby... Is such a cycle the fate of the genetic slave?
The pursuit of self, the worship of freedom, the escape from the city, the discovery of faith, the realization of meaning... Is this just the appearance of jumping out of the genetic magic grasp and falling into the meme trap?
Are human beings free? Where do our inner thoughts and feelings come from and why do they perish? Are genes driving our thoughts? Are memes controlling our feelings?
These questions, I have been thinking about since I read "The Selfish Gene" more than ten years ago, and to this day there is no answer at all, I hope that everyone can find their own answer.
I'll share it here today, thank you.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right">THE END</h1>