3 ms·

Whoa. That blew my mind. So we're evolving in such a way to be able to make combinatorial multi-gene changes- by evolving brains big enough to be able to devel

Whoa. That blew my mind. So we're evolving in such a way to be able to make combinatorial multi-gene changes- by evolving brains big enough to be able to develop gene engineering?

jerf 13y ago
Remember, it's not directed. Evolution qua evolution hasn't got a problem going to the brink, then watching humanity wipe out, then never building another intelligent species on Earth again... of course it doesn't have a problem, since it isn't a human or even a living thing that could have a problem, or indeed have anything. But observationally, humanity is currently in a place where that level of gene engineering is a decent bet, yes.
ams6110 13y ago
But the jury is still out on whether that ability is a net positive for our survival in evolutionary terms. And if it isn't, well, natural selection is quite merciless.
jk4930 13y ago
There's another term from the mentioned "Selfish Gene" (which is a book by the same title): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics It's a view on how ideas spread and use hosts (e.g., human brains) as carriers. They mutate, they're selected, they compete for "brain space". One funny perspective is that we're the slaves to genes and memes, both using us to survive. We're just carrying out their orders. :) (In the end it's just a way to look at information diffusion with focus on the way how ideas replicate and the condition of their success or failure over time, abstracting away from social/cultural context and other hard to grasp things.)
- upquark 13y ago
  Wouldn't it be in the best interest of memes to never let us figure them out though? To never obtain this view of the world where memes are exposed for the parasites that they are? Maybe "theory of memetics" is a next-generation meme that took over our collective consciousness to exterminate all the other primitive memes and gain world domination :)
  - petsos 13y ago
    They are only parasites only if you also think that genes are parasites too.
flumbaps 13y ago
I had this cool idea for a sci-fi book (I may one day write), set long after modern civilisation collapses. Humans survive but with all the readily available iron ore used up, we are perpetually stuck in a pre-industrial revolution world. Hundreds of thousands of years pass and we evolve. At this level of technology we can farm, so we're still very successful, and the biggest threats to us are diseases rather than predators. So we evolve towards having much greater conscious control over our bodies and health. Incremental changes happen, starting from an expansion of the existing placebo effect, towards a conscious ability to manage immune responses, and then further into being able to affect cell chemistry in different areas of the body. The book would follow what happens when humans evolve the ability to do genetic engineering on themselves, and the following completely organic technological revolution. (Probably ending with some gene hackers growing diamond hulled space craft and leaving to explore the galaxy.)
- plaxtonquay 13y ago
  Cool story bro

Whoa. That blew my mind. So we're evolving in such a way to be able to make combinatorial multi-gene changes- by evolving brains big enough to be able to develop gene engineering?

jerf 13y ago

Remember, it's not directed. Evolution qua evolution hasn't got a problem going to the brink, then watching humanity wipe out, then never building another intelligent species on Earth again... of course it doesn't have a problem, since it isn't a human or even a living thing that could have a problem, or indeed have anything. But observationally, humanity is currently in a place where that level of gene engineering is a decent bet, yes.

ams6110 13y ago

But the jury is still out on whether that ability is a net positive for our survival in evolutionary terms. And if it isn't, well, natural selection is quite merciless.

jk4930 13y ago

There's another term from the mentioned "Selfish Gene" (which is a book by the same title): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics It's a view on how ideas spread and use hosts (e.g., human brains) as carriers. They mutate, they're selected, they compete for "brain space". One funny perspective is that we're the slaves to genes and memes, both using us to survive. We're just carrying out their orders. :) (In the end it's just a way to look at information diffusion with focus on the way how ideas replicate and the condition of their success or failure over time, abstracting away from social/cultural context and other hard to grasp things.)

upquark 13y ago
Wouldn't it be in the best interest of memes to never let us figure them out though? To never obtain this view of the world where memes are exposed for the parasites that they are? Maybe "theory of memetics" is a next-generation meme that took over our collective consciousness to exterminate all the other primitive memes and gain world domination :)
- petsos 13y ago
  They are only parasites only if you also think that genes are parasites too.

flumbaps 13y ago

I had this cool idea for a sci-fi book (I may one day write), set long after modern civilisation collapses. Humans survive but with all the readily available iron ore used up, we are perpetually stuck in a pre-industrial revolution world. Hundreds of thousands of years pass and we evolve. At this level of technology we can farm, so we're still very successful, and the biggest threats to us are diseases rather than predators. So we evolve towards having much greater conscious control over our bodies and health. Incremental changes happen, starting from an expansion of the existing placebo effect, towards a conscious ability to manage immune responses, and then further into being able to affect cell chemistry in different areas of the body. The book would follow what happens when humans evolve the ability to do genetic engineering on themselves, and the following completely organic technological revolution. (Probably ending with some gene hackers growing diamond hulled space craft and leaving to explore the galaxy.)

plaxtonquay 13y ago
Cool story bro