Corruption: The fault in our genes, pt 3
Just a little recap from parts one and two.
We understand that every human being has a unique strand of DNA, and that a copies of that DNA are found in every single cell in our body. That six foot long strand that packs down into a two nanometre wide bundle contains the complete history of our evolution.
The DNA inside of you is the same DNA (minus the evolutionary additions) as the DNA that built the little ground burrowing mammal that survived the meteor strike that killed the dinosaurs and opened the surface of the planet for domination by mammals.
That DNA inside of you is the culmination of literally billions of years of evolution. While we still have so much to learn about what that coded string of amino acids actually says, we are pretty certain that there is little contained in it that does not have a purpose.
Obviously, the gene that controls the growth of things like tails are no longer required so that we say that gene is no longer expressed, that the gene is broken. But it still is found in our DNA (and occasionally a child is born with a vestigial tail that is surgically removed).
We know how evolution works. If a mutation occurs that does not offer any survival or reproductive advantages, that mutation usually leads to the death of the individual without further reproduction.
If something shows up in generation after generation, there is likely some survival or reproductive advantage to it.
Some people may not be familiar with the fact that there are hereditary traits that develop because they benefit the group as well as or more than they benefit the individual. Like altruism. Someone willing to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the group may end his or her own specific ability to reproduce, but if altruism is a trait that is present in a group, that group may have a greater chance at survival and therefore a greater chance at reproducing.
This dynamic is said to possibly have contributed to the success of groups which worshiped Gods, and then favoured those groups which worshiped a single God. There is something to be said for having an all powerful invisible entity on your side in a battle situation. Human beings might have greater confidence in confronting forces even more powerful than they are because of that confidence.
So, why is it that there is so much corruption in the world?
Our brain is the most complex organism in the universe to our knowledge. That three pound blob of cells is intricately wired into our bodies and responds to everything in our environment.
Remember, we are not just talking homo sapiens, or even primates. Our brains started evolving much earlier and our ability to survive depended on a very precise mechanism of rewarding behaviour that benefited survival and reproduction and punished behaviour which threatened those things.
In our brain, there are massive networks of neurons which connect to other neurons and other parts of our body through axons, long strands of sheathed organic matter, to the dendrites which interact with other dendrites or other cells within our body. There are breaks along the axon, called neural synapses, at which point information passes quickly in the form of neurotransmitters.
Neurotransmitters are chemicals produced by the body which act as the carrot and sticks. Dopamine is the chemical which rewards the body with sensations of pleasure. Norepinephrines work to influence production of adrenalin, raising the level of alertness to dangers or opportunities. Seratonin is the chemical that sharpens and assists the transformation of information between neurons or other specialty cells within the body.
This is a horribly simplified description of an incredibly complex process that would otherwise take volumes of pages and weeks of your time to properly instruct you. It’s asking a lot of you to accept that this is how our brains function, but I’m doing the best I can to provide a foundation to explain my primary hypothesis about why there is so much corruption in the world.
Dopamine is the primary reward system in our brains. If we do something right, and we recognize that we have done something right, we produce a little flood of dopamine, brief but powerful. When you taste something that is fatty or sweet, for example, we get a little burst of dopamine because historically, items high in calories were advantageous because they allowed us to survive longer.
We are addictive creatures. Why is that?
Some people are addicted to substances, like drugs or alcohol. The reason for that is easy to explain. The drugs or alcohol interfere with the process in the neural synapses, prolonging the flood of dopamine or one of the other neurotransmitters which have a specific emotional effect in our bodies.
But some behaviours do that too.
Masturbation can be addictive for some people. The little flood of dopamine that accompanies an orgasm has occupied many a young boy.
Lust between adults provides that same pleasure. Obviously, this is necessary to promote reproduction, but that reward system also influences infidelity. The extent to which a person is willing to engage in adulterous or promiscuous behaviour is something that can be hereditary.
One might argue that there is a fine line between a habitual behaviour and a compulsion or addiction. If the behaviour becomes destructive, then it is said to be a negative trait.
Greed, or the desire to make money, to make more money than those around you, is another behaviour that is rewarded not only by the biochemical dopamine rush, but also in material rewards which further reinforce the behaviour.
In this sense, I would suggest that Capitalism, or the Profit incentive, is a form of mental illness, an addictive behaviour that can lead to destruction.
Certain people are very good at making money through legitimate means. They are motivated to achieve that biological reward through straightforward ways. They achieve the same reward if they engage in risky or illegal behaviour.
Homo sapiens are competitive creatures. We are also tribal creatures. We are happiest when our tribe is prospering. We are unhappy, however, when another is doing better than we are. The selfish gene, the competitive gene, operates to motivate us to gain some advantage over others.
You may recall I mentioned how some traits that are destructive usually lead to the weeding out of the trait because it does not bestow a sufficient benefit for survival or reproductive advantage.
If that is the case, and a trait is so predominant within a species, does that mean that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages? Possibly.
Remember, evolution operates over geological time scales. Two hundred and fifty million years ago, our ancestors were small burrowing mammals.
Primates have only existed for the past few million years. The Homo species only first appeared in the geological record about six million years ago.
Our own specific species, homo sapiens sapiens, has walked this planet for a mere two hundred thousand years. Our gift for language was the result of a mutation that occurred roughly 80,000 years ago. Our ability to gather in larger concentrations of the same members of our species is a trait which only emerged about fifteen thousand years or so ago.
These are blinks of an eye on the geological scale.
When you consider that our population has grown from 1 billion in 1804 to the present day number in excess of 7.4 billion individuals, and that we have only in that same period of time experienced a massive growth in the human invented system of capitalism, and accumulation of manufactured items which contribute to the illusion of well-being, and it is only in that period of time that we have invented or discovered chemicals and drugs which interfere hugely with the operation of those neurotransmitters which regulate our behaviour, and that the current trajectory of behaviour exhibited by billions of homo sapiens with the evident destructive effect on the environment of the planet, then I would say that it is safe to predict that our addiction to making money, to consumption, to the burning of fossil fuels which provides the items for consumption, and to the massive drug problems being experienced in the nations of the world, that these traits may very well be being weeded out, but in the process of weeding that trait out in humans, we are destroying most of the other species on the planet through no fault of their own.
Our bad behaviour on this planet has accelerated beyond our comprehension during the last two hundred years. We have changed and continue to change the chemical composition of our atmosphere which carries grave consequences as have been described by the wisest scientists among us.
But there are other individuals who remain addicted to greater and greater acquisition of wealth, to greater and greater consumption, to the very powerful addiction of power that accompanies massive wealth.
What do I mean by massive?
When 68 individuals own or control more than the wealth of the poorest four billion people, that is what I call massive.
When a very small number of families own or control the vast majority of the wealth on the planet, and their concern is only for the preservation and wellbeing of their own tribe, that does not bode well for the billions upon billions of those of us who are not members of their tribe.
The governments of the industrialized nations are largely owned and controlled by the individuals who own and control the vast wealth of this planet. Since those governments serve the interests of those who offer the politicians the greatest rewards, the system is self-contained and self-perpetuating. It cannot be broken without considerable destruction.
We have seen what happens when a majority of those less well off starts to demand greater influence in the country, greater security of wellbeing in the form of food security, housing, occupation. In Syria, where the majority Sunni population protested in favour of greater rights and benefits, the Syrian government comprised of a minority Alawite group, imprisoned, shot and gassed the protesters. This led to an armed insurrection to which the government responded with more violence, more gassing, more death and destruction. The country is awash in violence and the little that the majority Sunni had has been taken away from them. The government soldiers shout “you want your freedom? Here is your freedom.” as they shove the innocent into prison and torture chambers, as food is denied, as hospitals are bombed.
Bernie Sanders wanted a revolution in America, a peaceful revolution. That wasn’t going to happen, not when the mechanism of government is very much controlled by the small group of people who own or control the majority of the wealth. They cannot allow the wealth to be distributed too evenly because that will deny the very wealthiest the ability to secure their tribal protection. They already live separate and apart from the rest of the population. But that buffer cannot be permitted to be eroded.
The wealthiest may even be aware of the destructive impact our behaviour is having on the environment. But I believe they are confident that they will possess the resources to weather any of the worst effects (pun intended). They can build a fortress under ground or near the poles. They can provide for the reproductive certainty and survival of their own tribe.
Remember, it is only relatively recently that homo sapiens sapiens went from living in small hunter gatherer groups of 50 to a 150 individuals. The wealthiest comprise a group not much larger than that.
The rest of us are addled by our addictions, by the carrot and stick system requiring every individual to be gainfully employed or publicly shamed on a system of handouts designed to be humiliating and degrading. The television sets project images of wealth and contentment on the grand scale owned by that elite group at the top, so that there is a constant discontent with what is owned, and a mad compulsion for more is reinforced, so that we focus on that basic consumption rather than looking at the dynamics which produces this circumstance in the first place.
We are given little rewards along the way. The politicians are rewarded with power and influence. The store owners are rewarded with bonuses and little benefits. The vast majority are provided the bare essentials or not quite even that. But they are also provided with sufficient distractions, sufficient entertainments that they do not dwell long on what is really wrong with they way they live.
We are all excess. The vast majority of us. We should not be here. This planet is an exceptional place which has existed for billions of years. But it has existed in a state of balance that persists for hundreds of millions of years, but then, every now and then, is upended by a geological or global disaster.
Homo sapiens evolved in a time of relative stability. The instability actually contributed to the mutations which proved advantageous to our ancestors. But now, we are confronted with a system that has lost its balance and we have not yet woken up to that fact because we are too addicted to the behaviour that put that system out of balance.
It is often said that a drunk sometimes has to hit rock bottom before the drunk takes steps to rehabilitate his or her life. Sometimes the drunk simply dies as a consequence of their behaviour. Whether or not the drunk gets past denial that there is an addiction problem is the greatest hurdle, and the factor which determines if they survive or not.
We are the last Homo species to survive. Are we an evolutionary mistake that nature is weeding out by utilizing the natural systems contained within ourselves over hundreds of millions of years of evolution?
The jury is still out on homo sapiens sapiens.
