Weasels, genes, culture and the mercurial role of instinct

Premise:

The nature versus nurture argument obscures as much as it

reveals about life on earth.

background | seven related findings | essay | argument | dialectical approach | conclusion

Background:

Dillard instinctual living – reason and “passion”

Ehrlich & Ehrlich Genes (hard inheritance) & Culture (soft inheritance)

Humans are “not alone in the capacity to pass along non-genetic information–culture”

{68

chapter iv. The Dominant Animal

Terminology used:

genome

genotype

phenotype

heredity

acquired traits (soft inheritance)                          genetic (hard inheritance)

nurture nature

learned behavior instinct

“practiced” “hard wired”

Essay due

“How do we describe nature?

and

What do I owe the world and nature?”

1. Dillard, Carson, and Wilson on what we “owe” one another.

2. Ehrlich & Wilson & Diamond – on the enduring complexity of nature.

Wilson on genes

Argument

Humans are organisms and are the products of inheritance, behavior, and culture (nature & nurture)

"When organisms evolve, they also change the environments of other organisms."

"Changing environments change organisms; changing organisms in turn change environments: that's pretty much the central story of life on earth."

"inability to evolve in the face of environmental change."

p. 20, Ehrlich Chapter One.

background | seven related findings | essay | argument | dialectical approach | conclusion

Seven points in Ehrlich & Ehrlich

Language and tools

Development of culture and early humans

Brain evolution (changes in the central nervous system over time)

Mirror neurons: learning & empathic responses

Volume of blood needed for neuromuscular control

Eight qualities of the human brain

Consciousness and the “unconscious” or instinctive – impulsive character

Sympathetic tension in relations between genes & culture–human are dualistic

background | seven related findings | essay | argument | dialectical approach | conclusion

The dialectical means of examining the world is a basic concept:

Thesis       +       antithesis          =       synthesis

Thesis:

We are determined by our genes.

Antithesis:

No, we are more influenced by our culture.

Synthesis:

Together humans are enriched by both genes and culture working in tandem.

Conclusion

“In summary, as we learn more about the human genome, the notion of ‘genes

for behavior’ must be discounted. For example traits such as normal behaviors

few cases have been found of a specific gene or even many genes that greatly

influence variation in the trait. It is becoming clear that when genes influence

traits, and this applies especially to behaviors, they will do so in a way that is

strongly mediated by the environment.”

“Environmental circumstances during any phase of life may alter the way in

which an individual’s genes function at that time and later.”

Ehrlich, page. 96.

The case of the disappearing frogs.

Frog eggs are deposited in water.

In the tadpole (larval) stages free swimming young feed on organisms in the water.

As the initial place of origin whatever nutrients and chemicals are dissolved in the water affect young, developing frogs.

Today, worldwide there is deterioration in frog populations.

The causes of these declines are not certain, but there is indication that a fungus is inhibiting (a form of predation) the survival of frogs.

Effects of Chytrid fungus and parasitic flies on frogs.

background | seven related findings | essay | argument | dialectical approach | conclusion

The Dominant Animal on the web

related class site

Class index

measuring ecosystem services.

The Imperiled Planet | The Dominant Animal | Storm Over the Amazon | The Tragedy of the Commons | The Web of Life

ecology vocabulary