PART 4:
GENES, ALTRUISM, AND EVOLUTION |
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It's intriguing to me that when you study nature you learn that nature neither gives nor expects mercy. But human beings really do hold ourselves accountable in a way that other animals don't. -David Templeton
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Section 4: The “feel good” organizational structure of the brain |
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| In
the Selfish Gene the notion of “suicidal
altruism” in which one dies to save another is definitely a problem to Darwinian
conception of reproduction. Hawkins writes
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| "A gene for suicidally saving five
cousins would not become more numerous in the population, but a gene for saving five
brothers or ten first cousins would. The minimum requirement for a suicidal altruistic
gene to be successful is that it should save more than two siblings (or children or
parents), or more than four half-siblings (or uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces,
grandparents, grandchildren) or more than eight first cousins, etc."
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| There is no cost beneficial
calculation that explains such behaviors. There must be something in ourselves that
precedes conscious cost-analysis reason, which makes some people jump in to save another.
I am not saying that this is the case with all people. In fact, from now on I want to let go of the concept of
universality of anything (I will expand my reasons for this in Part 5)…what I am saying is that we can
come up with enough observations to say that behaviors such as altruistic suicide in
humans can not be sufficiently grasped through selfish motives. So what is that something
within us? In previous parts, I already alluded to the influence of brain
structure and genes on behavior. Thus, so far we can say that |
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| However, we can not say nothing about the question of why it makes us feel good, unless we undertake the task of finding the mechanism of both the biological evolutionary reasons as well as cultural components which caused the changes in the brain. However on a more immediate level we can infer that: | |||
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The thing
about this structure that is fascinating is its ability to transcend itself. In the next part I will explore
this transcending phenomenon of the human brain in context of something we are all are
familiar with – the fascinating world of dreams. I hope that after studding this
“system” we can get a more complete picture about the organizational structure
of the brain I alluded to above. |
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