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>We are servants to our genes If so then how do you explain phenomena like suicide and celibacy?

• shawn 8y ago
  It is commonly assumed that evolution tries to maximize its outcome using a greedy algorithm. In fact it seems to be a random walk across all possibilities, with unviable branches dying out over time. Suicide may also be a second order effect of other factors. For example, suicide usually has a cultural basis: you feel some sort of shame, or maybe you think your future outcomes aren't good culturally. But that means you care about society. Therefore suicide may be an indication that we have evolved to optimize society rather than ourselves. If we didn't care about society, perhaps there would be less suicides, but it would also make humans less dominant.
  • trukterious 8y ago
    >Suicide usually has a cultural basis Yes -- hence copycat suicides. But cultural, not genetic. Ideas, not genes.
    • shawn 8y ago
      I would argue that culture is incorporated into our genes. For example, humans show signs of domestication, just like certain animals. But domestication is another name for cultural genetics.
      • perl4ever 8y ago
        Wouldn't it be accurate to say apoptosis is incorporated into our genes?
• perl4ever 8y ago
  If evolution is the changing of statistical distributions of genes within a population, then reproduction isn't the only aspect of life that is germane. That's because your children are just one example of people whose genes correlate with yours. Practically anything you do affects other people in society who have some genes in common and therefore impacts the future distribution of genes. This is why being menopausal, infertile, homosexual, celibate, or whatever does not place you outside of or make you irrelevant to evolution.