4 ms·
Culture and memes are the software side of evolution? What is the hardware side?
by makerdiety 5y ago
Culture and memes are the software side of evolution? What is the hardware side?
- cdirkx 5y agoYour body and genetics, it takes a really long time to evolve a different body (thousands of generations), but it takes very little time to update culture (couple of generations).
- Swizec 5y agoThere is evidence that single generation evolution can happen with strong enough shocks. Nothing immediately obvious, just detectable DNA changes that lead to changes in risk for certain conditions. https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/21/study-of-holocaust-survivors-finds-trauma-passed-on-to-childrens-genes https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/21/study-of-hol... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96verkalix_study https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96verkalix_study
- nanomonkey 5y agoEpigenetics and Genetics (DNA). Epigenetics allows for changes within an organism's lifetime, and include the ability to pass along environmental stressors to the next generation. There is a great book from MIT press [Evolution in Four Dimensions](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolution-four-dimensions https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolution-four-dimensions) that goes into how Genetics, Epigenetics, behavior and symbolic transmission of data between generations guide evolution.