Are we just what our genes tell us to be?
I have been teaching high school biology for about 7 years now and do like to think of myself as a biologist. For a biologist like me the working of the human body is very intriguing. What is going on inside the human body is pretty much known today, but what is going on inside the human mind is still a big mystery — it is one of those inexplicable mysteries we still haven’t found an answer for. It is common knowledge that the DNA-Deoxyribonucleic acid is the genetic material of all living organisms, except for the RNA viruses. Specific segments of the DNA called genes regulate the production of proteins which in turn govern all the physiological reactions going on inside our body. Indirectly you could say that these genes are responsible for our body and for the stuff happening inside our body. So, you can understand a biologist’s obsession with genes. Intriguing stuff these genes, they tell you everything about the organism and can also reveal the entire genealogical history of an organism.
Many believe we are what our genes are. The way we behave; the way we think is all encoded by our genes. I agree, but it can be scary sometimes, are we just what our genes tell us to be? Can’t we ever change? Could be true…. I watched an interesting show on George R. Price — a population geneticist. One of his seminal works was the discovery of the Price Equation- a covariance equation which mathematically describes evolution and natural selection. He derived this equation from W.D. Hamilton’s work on kin selection. The equation was published in Nature 1970 Vol. 227 pp. 520–21 titled- ‘Selection and covariance’. The equation explained the evolution of altruism. In simple words the Price equation explains that altruistic behavior in humans is due to the presence of a gene and this gene in humans has evolved through natural selection. It was a breakthrough discovery showing that human kindness is in our genes. Indicating that humans are kind because our gene dictates it and nature has found it to be highly beneficial and so the gene was maintained and it evolved through natural selection. The discovery was brilliant but it gnawed on Price’s mind and he wanted to prove whether his own theory was right or wrong. He could not digest the fact that human kindness was just because of their genes and not because by essence they were good or kind people. To prove it he began to live a life of selflessness and gave away everything he owned. He also turned into a Roman Catholic from being a staunch atheist by finding certain coincidences in his life which lead him to believe in the almighty. He felt that only god could innately make humans kind. However, his lifestyle sent him into severe depression. And he ultimately committed suicide.
Indeed, a tragic story. But, do think about it. Who are we really? Are we just the genes that we have inherited from our parents? Nothing more, nothing less? People are benevolent because their gene says so and cruel because they don’t possess that gene? Think about it… Don’t we all show kindness because we know that showing compassion and sympathy to a fellow being is beneficial for us. We feel ecstatic after having shown an act of kindness albeit the feelings of ecstasy are internal. Fret not! Although altruistic behaviour may seem selfish when seen through the genetic microscope, humans are not alone. The altruistic gene for sterility in females is selected rigorously in colonial insects like honey-bees, termites, and wasps. Female sterility is selected so that the sterile female workers can selflessly care for the colony. However, this altruistic trait is not out of some selfless motive of caring for the colony rather out of the very selfish motive to make sure the next queen belongs to a specific genetic lineage. Did you really think the female worker bees forgo their right to reproduce so that they can selflessly care for the beehive? The female workers aggressively select larvae of their own gene line to become the future queen by feeding all the royal jelly to their own kin while excluding the larvae of their distant cousins. So, I like to take console from our friendly worker bees who may an agenda as to who becomes the next queen, nevertheless they do make the most delicious elixir for us.
Let us remain altruistic though our genes remain selfish!
PS: Since I could not find the link to the original paper by Price you can read about his work in this review — http://stevefrank.org/reprints-pdf/95JTB-Price.pdf . To know more about the Price equation, you can go through this — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_equation . You can learn more about his life in the book — ‘The Price of Altruism: George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness’ by Oren Harmen.
