Essays on Man - by Students of
Biology
K.K. Verma
and Rashmi Saxena
Copyright 1998Eubios Ethics Institute 1998. All commercial rights
reserved. This publication may be reproduced for limited educational or
academic use, however please enquire with the author. A printed version may
become availbale in the future. NOTE the views of this book are not necessarily
those of Eubios Ethics Institute, which promotes intellectual debate, but the
views of the authors.
About
the Authors
Dr. K.K. Verma
is Retired Professor of Zoology and Principal, Government P.G. Colleges. Did
his M.Sc. in Zoology with specialisation in Entomology from the Saugar
University, Sagar (India) in 1956. Soon afterwards he started his career as a
teacher in Zoology in the M.P. Government, Department of Higher Education.
Having taught his subject both at undergraduate as well as postgraduate levels
as Lecturer, Assistant Professor and then as Professor in different M.P. Govt.
Colleges, he was promoted as Principal in 1983, from which position he retired
in 1991.
Dr. Verma's research area has been "Insect Functional and Comparative
Morphology". He was awarded Ph.D. by the Ravishankar University, Raipur
(India) in 1967. He has to his credit more than 25 research papers published in
national and international journals. He participated in the International
Congress of Entomology at Hamburg in 1984 and at Vancouver in 1988.
After retirement he has developed interest in Bioethics, and has taken to
popular scientific writing.
Dr. Rashmi
Saxena is a daughter and an intellectual companion of Dr. K.K. Verma. She did
her M.Sc. in Zoology with Entomology as the special branch from the Ravishankar
University, Raipur in 1985. After teaching her subject as Lecturer in M.P.
Government colleges for a few years, she gave up the job to join as Research
Associate for a UGC sponsored research project. On completion of the project in
1997 she again took to college teaching in Udaipur (Rajsthan).
Dr. Saxena's area of research has been biocontrol of insect pests of stored
grains. She was awarded Ph.D. in 1989 by the Ravishankar University, Raipur.
She has authored half a dozen published research papers.
INTRODUCTION
The nine
essays, included in this collection, have been written with a firm conviction
that understanding Man* with his biological background helps in knowing him
better. This approach enlightens us as to significance of Man in the living
world, what he can do or overdo, and what errors he should avoid hereafter. Man
has a lot of misconceptions about his own affairs, and the misunderstandings
can be got rid of through biological understanding of him-self.
As has been
vividly brought out by Crow (1970), Modern Man's view of himself has developed
with growth of evolutionary biology and with understanding of mechanism of
inheritance. Various other branches of Biology, such as Comparative Anatomy,
Comparative Physiology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Ecology, have all
contributed to the development of the views.
Efforts to
understand Man have been made by several eminent biologists, Julian Huxley,
Theodor Dobzhansky, J. B. S. Haldane and N. J. Berrill to name some. The
essays, presented here are mostly an assimilation of the thoughts of these
scientists, along with some sprinkling of our own interpretations.
Presentation
of matter is almost nontechnical, so as to make it accessible even to readers
with little familiarity with biological sciences.
* The term
"Man" is used throughout this book as a synonym for human beings. It
has no intention to be sexist in expression, including equally both male and
female of humankind.
1.UNIQUENESS
OF MAN
Introduction
Man has always
realized that he is a part of the living world. According to the ancient
Vedantic philosophy "atman" or the life force moves from one
"yoni" or level of organization to another. In stories of
"Panchtantra" and Aesop's Fables human qualities were attributed to
animals.
In the Middle
Ages, when religion dominated Man's thinking, he regarded him-self as a
superior being, far superior to other living forms. Gods were humanised. In the
Christian scripture it was said that God had created Man out of his own image.
At about the
middle of the last century an important event took place in the scientific
world; Charles Darwin, in his book "Origin of Species" (1859) offered
us the concept of organic evolution as a scientific theory. According to this
theory living forms are not static; they change with the passage of time in
order to become better adapted to the existing conditions. When this happens in
populations of the same species, living in different areas with somewhat
different conditions, this may lead to the populations becoming, in due course,
different and new species. Similar views had been expressed by some biologists
and thinkers before Darwin, but Darwin was the first to put forth these views
adequately supported by a large mass of evidence.
Publication of
Darwin's "Origin of Species" has been described as the most important
event and a turning point in the history of Biology. The concept of evolution
became generally accepted among people of science, following publication of the
book, and in the next few years the entire science of biology underwent a rapid
remoulding on the basic theme of organic evolution.
Charles Darwin
wrote also a small book, "Descent of Man", which was published 12
years after the appearance of "Origin of Species". In this book the
author described that, like other organisms, Man had been a product of
evolution, and that he had descended from some primitive tree living apes, his
closest living relative being the chimpanzee. Similar views had been presented
by a strong supporter of Charless Darwin, Thomas Huxley in 1863 in his book,
"Evidences as to Man's Place in Nature". With these publications Man
came to be regarded as another product of evolution, as another animal species.
Thus Man's opinion about his position in nature underwent a drastic change,
from that of a very superior being, next to God in position to that of just another
member of the Animal Kingdom.
The present
century has witnessed a rapid progress in our understanding the mechanism of
inheritance among organisms. Thus the branch of Biology, called Genetics, has
developed fast. Growth of Genetics has helped a better understanding of the
mechanism of evolution, as evolution is only descent with modification. This
situation plus continued pondering among biologists on how Man differs from the
remaining animal species has led to the realization that, while Man represents
culmination of an evolutionary line among the mammalian order Primates, he has
come to acquire during his evolution such unique features as make him stand
quite apart from the rest of the Animal Kingdom. He is obviously the dominant
living being on the planet at present. His dominance, as we shall realize it in
course of these essays, is quite different from and much more pronounced than
the dominance of dinosaurs in the Mesozoic Era (i.e. the period of reptiles,
which ended about 70 million years ago, and the duration of which is estimated
to have been nearly 140 million years), or that of mammals in the early part of
the Caenozoic Era (i.e. the current geological era, which started about 70
million years ago).
Man, a
product of evolution
That Man is a
product of evolution among animals and that he is a member of the Animal
Kingdom cannot be doubted. Testing newly discovered drugs and pharmaceuticals
on rats, guinea pigs and monkeys is done with the realization that Man has the
same basic physiology as these animals. There is considerable fossil record to
support the notion that Man has evolved from primitive ape-like ancestors, and
that the living chimpanzee is the closest living relative of Man. In
serological test anti-human sera are almost as strongly positive with
chimpanzee blood as with human blood, supporting the above pointed notion of
evolutionary closeness between them. It may be noted further that reaction of
the antihuman serum is weaker with blood of other apes, still weaker with blood
of monkeys and baboons, which are more distantly related to humans than apes,
and almost imperceptible with blood of lemurs, which are the most primitive
members of the group Primates, and which are thus farthest separated from
humans in phylogeny.
Now let us consider
some probable unique attributes of Man.
Human
intelligence and speech
One of the
peculiar features of Man is his greatly developed intelligence, which has
largely replaced his instincts. How do instincts differ from intelligence? A
long answer is needed to satisfy this question; hence a separate essay on this
problem, see Essay 2.
Perhaps the
most acceptable definition of intelligence is that it is the capacity to modify
one's behaviour according to the needs of the moment on the basis of learning through
past experience. One special feature of human intelligence is symbol formation
or symbolization or conceptual thinking. For each experience we mentally form a
symbol, which may be expressed orally by speaking out a word or a set of words
or by writing. Man can express a series of such symbols or words in an
articulate manner, and thus have developed speech, language and writing, which
have played such a vital role in the development of human social pattern.
While speech
and language have been outcome of symbolization or concept formation, it is
also true that they have helped concept development. As Julian Huxley (1959)
has put it, words are tools which automatically carve concepts out of
experience. More about it in the next essay.
Intelligence
and concept formation did not appear all of a sudden at the human level during
primate evolution. Though in a rudimentary form, these attributes may be seen
among apes. At Stanford University and the University of Nevada, chimpanzees
and gorillas have been taught to communicate by using the American Sign
Language (=Ameslan). (It may be pointed out at this stage that in the great
apes the vocal cords are such that they are unable to produce a variety of
sounds; hence use of intricate oral symbols or words for expression is
difficult in their case.) At Georgia State University the apes have been taught
to use a modified computer key board. Such experiments have shown that the apes
are fairly capable of associating experiences with certain symbols, and they
too are capable of fair amount of articulation.
Even in the
wild the apes seem to have some capacity of communication. This may be
inferred, for example from an experience narrated by Jane Goodall. In East
Africa two young gorillas had been shot dead by someone from a jeep. The
gorilla tribe, which had thus lost its two members, avoided jeeps and cars for
years after the event. This could not have happened in the absence of some
communication among members of the tribe.
Prehensile
or object-holding hands
There are
reasons to believe that the ancestor of Man was an arboreal creature with the
habit of brachiating, that is swinging, with the help of prehensile or
object-holding hands, from one tree branch to another, like the present day
apes. Thus Man's prehensile hands, with the thumb foldable against the palm,
have been a legacy from a tree living ancestor. Not only the prehensile nature
of the fore-limbs but also extra sensitive palms have been a part of this
legacy.
When the
evolving Man left life on trees and started moving on land, he took to
bipedalism. His hands, now freed from locomotion, could be used for holding
various external objects, and using them as such or with some modifications, in
order to increase his mechanical efficiency. Human intelligence prompted this
use of hands to make extensive and intricate modifications in such objects.
Thus started making and wielding of tools, weapons and implements, or in brief,
technology, which is an important characteristic of Man.
Like
intelligence and conceptual thinking, use of tools did not appear de novo in
human evolution. Rudiments of tools using behaviour may be seen in some
animals. A wasp, Ammophila makes its nest in the form of a blindly ending
tunnel in the ground. This she does by digging with aid of her jaws and spiny
fore-legs. After laying her egg in the nest and placing some food for the
future larva, the mother wasp puts a small pebble on the funnel-like mouth of
the tunnel, and then places the earlier dug out loose earth over the mouth.
Now, in order to camouflage the spot and protect it from parasitic and predator
insects, she searches out a suitable pebble, which she selects after weighing
several pebbles between her jaws and rejecting them. Holding the finally
selected pebble between her mandibles she allows it to fall down repeatedly on
the loose earth at the mouth of the nest to smoothen it. Thus the carefully
selected pebble is used by the wasp as a tool.
When young
Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Archipelago as a part of a scientific expedition,
he observed that a small bird, a finch had wood pecker like habit of dislodging
insects, living beneath bark, and feeding on them. For this purpose a wood
pecker uses its long bill, which is inserted into cracks and gaps in bark. The
Galapagos finch does not have a long bill, and makes up the deficiency by
holding a twig in its beak and using it as a tool for exploring the underneath
of bark.
Gavin R. Hunt,
a biologist from New Zealand, has recently observed in the New Caledonia group
of islands in the South Pacific that a crow (Corvus moneduloides) makes and
uses tools of two different types. One variety is a hooked stick. This it makes
by pulling away a twig by its beak, making a nick near one end of the stick, so
that the end becomes hooked. The hooked stick is used for pulling out insects
from holes. A tool of a different kind is prepared by making, with its beak,
successively deeper bites along an edge of a long leaf, starting near the leaf
apex and proceeding towards its base. The leaf, made serrated this way, is also
used for exploring holes for insect food.
Chimpanzees in
the wild are also known to use simple tools. It has been observed crushing
together several dry leaves to make a sort of a sponge, and using it for
lifting water to its mouth, if the stream bank is too high to allow lowering of
mouth to the water surface. It has also been seen to break away a tree branch,
removing leaves from it to make a stick, and to use the stick for beating its
chest in order to frighten and drive away an approaching enemy.
Man, with his
complex tools and equipment, represents a much higher level of technological
evolution. The prehensile hands of Man have made possible not only to use tools
and technology, but also the capacity to make symbols on flat surfaces. Thus
his object holding hands, intelligence and conceptual thinking have led to
writing and literature.
Dolphins among
Mammals are markedly intelligent. It has been said that, if they had prehensile
limbs, they could have built their own civilization with physical signs upon
the Earth like Man.
Cumulative
tradition or social memory
A peculiar
feature of human social organisation is that all that has been experienced or
learnt so far by the present generation and all the earlier generations is
passed on to the next generation. Thus knowledge and skill, acquired, go on
accumulating generation after generation. This is called the cumulative
tradition or social memory, as the society as a whole remembers/retains all the
past experience and learning. Rich communication, through speech, writing and
literature, plays a vital role in building up social memory.
Foetalization
or paedogenesis and slowing of development
By
paedogenesis, in human context, is meant foetal features continuing into the
adult stage. Delay in hardening of the inner parts of the nasal bones, the
rounded form of the fore-head, distribution of body hair in adult humans etc.
make us resemble a late foetus of chimpanzee. It is believed that paedogenesis
has been a factor in human evolution. Paedogenesis seems to have been
accompanied by slowing of development in the evolutionary process leading to
Man. The time that elapses between birth and the time of attainment of sexual
maturity in Man is about a quarter of the average human life span, whereas in
other mammals the corresponding period is eighth, tenth or twelfth of the
average longevity. According to Bates (1963), "The human infant is
completely dependent from 6 to 8 years, the ape infant for perhaps two years,
most monkeys for 1 year ..... Man reaches puberty at about 14 years and full
adult powers at about 20; the corresponding figures for great apes are about 8
to 12. Mammals other than Primates generally show even more rapid developmental
rates."
Slowing of
development and paedogenesis have resulted in a longer post-natal association
between the child and the parents. This situation is helpful in construction of
social memory.
Long
post-reproductive phase
A long
post-reproductive phase is yet another human peculiarity. In most mammals
individuals generally die soon after the reproductive phase is over. In
chimpanzee reproduction stops in a female at about the age of 35 years, and
death occurs at about 40 years. In man, however the post-reproductive phase is
long; it is as long as or longer than the reproductive phase. Moreover people
in the post-reproductive period generally occupy important position in the
society. Most leaders, eminent doctors, lawyers and scientists are in their
post-reproductive phase of life. In fact the presence of such experienced
persons amongst us is conducive to development of social memory. Sometimes our
society is criticised for being gerantophilic, and critics point out that one
is "too old at 40 or 45 ". But such slogans tend to rob the human society
of one of its advantages.
Reticulate
evolution
Man has been
evolving without breaking up into species. This situation has been discussed at
some length in Essay 9. Two populations, living in two different parts, evolve
separately, may become different in their features, and may also become
different species, if they remain separated long enough. But, because of Man's
restless and migratory habits, human populations frequently undergo genetic
intermixing. Thus these populations do not remain separated long enough to
become incapable of interbreeding and to become distinct species. This sort of
evolution, in which geographic isolates frequently genetically intermix, has
been called reticulate evolution. On the other hand speciation or new species
formation has been called divergent evolution.
Reticulate
evolution is one of the characteristics of Man.
As has been
pointed out above, reticulate evolution results from frequent racial
intermixing. In Mexico 60% of 33 million population are a result of
hybridisation between Europeans and Red Indians. In Colombia this is true for
40% of 11 million population. In the Urals most people are hybrids between
Europeoids and Mongoloids. In fact it is estimated that half of humankind today
is made up of people, who represent racial intermixing not far back in the
past.
A consequence
of reticulate evolution: members of different human races successfuly
interbreed. In this context Bates (1963) has said, "There is ample
evidence that the most different looking individuals from the most remotely
separated parts of the world can interbreed if given the opportunity.
Norwegians, Australian aborigines, Bushmen, Malays and South American Indians
are all perfectly capable of interbreeding and producing healthy and completely
fertile off-spring."
Another
consequence of this situation : that the human species presents a great genetic
diversity. Humans are the most genetically variable of all animal species with
the exception of domestic animals. The great variability helps the fine
distribution of labour in the human social structure.
The genetic
variability in humans has helped invading and living in widely different
habitats. No other animal species is known to occupy such very different habitats.
Of course ants are also known to live in very different parts. They are met
with in tropical forests, deserts, at considerable heights on mountains, along
the sea shore etc.. But then there are numerous species of ants, whereas Man, a
single species, occupies such a wide range of ecological conditions. Human
technology has also helped us living in and adapting to different living
situations.
Civilization
The different
characteristics of humans, enumerated above, interact in various ways, as illustrated
in the figure 1.1. The great amalgam or complex of speech and language, writing
and literature, social memory (through informal and formal education),
technology, fine distribution of labour and great capacity to adapt to diverse
conditions and habitats, is called civilization, which in the Animal Kingdom is
seen only in the human species. In this description of civilization one
important ingredient is left out, human esthetic sense and the fine arts, which
seem to be a culmination of our conceptual thinking.
FIG. 1.1:
Interaction among different special attributes of Man.
2.
INTELLIGENCE VERSUS INSTINCT
Introduction
One of the
unique features of Man is his well developed intelligence. Mammals are
intelligent, and Man is much more so. By such a statement we mean that mammals,
and to a greater extent Man, are guided in their behaviour by intelligence
rather than by their instinct, while animals at lower rungs of evolution show
mostly instinctive behaviour.
What is
intelligence, and how does it differ from instinct? It is not easy to come to
satisfactory definitions of these two terms. As intelligence has been the very
basis of human cultural evolution, let us devote some efforts to come to
acceptable definitions.
Search for
definitions
Commonly by
intelligence we mean learning capacity and capacity to modify one's behaviour
as per needs of the moment. By instinctive or innate behaviour is commonly
meant inborn behaviour, for which no learning is needed, and which is not
modifiable in view of immediate environmental needs. Obviously an important
difference between innate/instinctive and intelligent behaviour may be that,
while the former is guided more by the genotype or the gene set, the latter is
more shaped by the immediate environment.
Let us see a
few examples of innate behaviour in order to appreciate how much of our own
behaviour differs from it.
One example we
choose from Linda Partridge (1983). She points out that the garter snake
(Thamnophis elegans) feeds mostly on slugs in coastal regions of California,
while in inland California the same species feeds mainly on frogs and fish.
This difference in food preference is not due to learning. Most freshly born
coastal garter snakes attack slugs on the first exposure, while most new born
inland snakes will not feed on slugs, and will starve to death, if an
alternative food is not made available to them. In this snake species there is
ovo-viviparity, that is eggs are retained in the genital tract of the mother,
they develop there and then young snakes are born. But maternal effect during
development may be ruled out, as it has been found that the progeny, resulting
from a mating between an inland and a coastal snake, do not particularly
resemble the mother in their food preference. These observations clearly
suggest that the garter snake in different geographical areas have evolved
differently through selection with regards their food preferences, depending
upon the nature of food available readily. In support of this notion is the
observation that, while in the coastal populations there are some individuals
which do not prefer slugs, some in an inland population may almost as readily
attack slugs as most individuals of a coastal population.
Another
example from the work of Gwinner and Wiltschko on the European Garden Warbler
(Sylvia borin), as cited by Bateson (1983). When these birds are reared in
cages since hatching, they show restlessness in migratory periods, in autumn
and spring. These birds in captivity and isolated from fellow individuals however,
tend to fly southward in autumn and northward in spring, like their wild
counterparts.
Still another
example: a female mantid, reared in isolation, when sexually matured and mated,
makes an ootheca, characteristic of the species, though she has not seen her
mother or any other female doing so.
Compare these
instances with our behaviour. Though we are not free from instinct, much of our
behaviour is deliberate, modifiable in view of immediate environmental needs,
and based on learning or experience.
But the
definitions of instinct and intelligent behaviour, given above, are not
satisfying, when we consider the following. That learning has no place in
development of instinctive behaviour is not quite correct. An example to bring
home this point is in Hailman's study, as cited by Bateson (1983), who says,
"It is possible to take a recently hatched laughing gull (Larus atricilla)
chick and show that it will peck at models of adults's bill. Advocates of the
first view (that innate behaviour is entirely inborn with no place for
learning) would almost certainly want to call the behaviour innate, since the
chick had previously been isolated from 'relevant' experience. Nevertheless, as
the chick profits from its experience after hatching, the accuracy of its pecking
improves, and the kinds of bill-like objects it will peck at are increasingly
restricted."
Another
example: Marler (1976) has noted that in three different birds, Song Sparrow,
White-crowned Sparrow and Oregon Junco, song patterns of wild and socially
isolated captive males, as seen in recorded oscillograms, are obviously
different.
That
intelligent behaviour is environment based, but it also requires a genetic
basis, is not difficult to accept. Mongolism or Down's Syndrome is due to a
genetic abnormality, and the learning ability of the sufferer is greatly
impaired. Identical or monozygotic twins have similar genetic base, and show
very similar learning ability, while dissimilar or dizygotic twins may differ
more widely in this ability.
Keeping in view
all this let us continue our quest for satisfactory definitions of intelligence
and instinct. According to Lorenz (1965) behaviour, based on immediate
environmental information or need and previous learning, is
learnt/intelligent/acquired behaviour. On the other hand behaviour, which has
evolved as an adaptation to a particular set of environmental conditions, and,
therefore develops under influence of the genetic mechanism, and is not pliable
under influence of immediate environmental changes is innate/instinctive
behaviour. While these definitions are clear and in good agreement with the
common notion among biologists, the main drawback with them is that there is no
room for learning modifying instinctive behaviour.
Another
significant view in this context is that of Schneirla (1966) and Lehrman
(1970). According to these authors a developing individual is continuously
influenced by both the genes present in its cells as well as by the
environment. Thus behaviour also develops under influence of the both. However,
this view is too broad based to help distinguishing between intelligence and
instinct.
Alcock (1979)
gave a theory suggesting varying extent of influence of genes and environment
in determining behaviour. Taking a cue from Alcock's views, suggestions are
being made here to help formulate acceptable definitions of intelligent and
instinctive behaviour. The suggestions are illustrated in the figure 2.1. As
shown in this figure all behaviour is influenced both by the genetic make up of
individual as well as by the environment. If in shaping of a particular
instance of behaviour the current environmental information/needs and learning
play a large and conspicuous role, while the role of genotype is, relatively
speaking, not so well pronounced, the behaviour is called
learnt/acquired/intelligent. On the other hand, if the genetic control of
behaviour is well pronounced or conspicuous, and the ambient environmental
conditions and recent experiences and learning play only a small role in
shaping behaviour, it is innate/instinctive behaviour.
It should,
however be remembered that the genotype, guiding behaviour, has evolved under
influence of environment. Thus behaviour in all cases is an adaptation to the
environment, though the influence of the current environmental conditions is
obvious and pronounced in intelligent behaviour. But in view of all this one
should not underestimate the role of the genetic mechanism, which in all cases
provides the back-bone of behaviour. If the genic set or genome has evolved to
such an extent that it influences development of an organism, capable of
perceiving the ambient environmental features, assessing them immediately and
preparing strategies for suitable response, on the basis of previous experiences/learning
stored in the memory, we call the possessor of the genome intelligent.
FIG. 2.1:
Diagramatic representation of present authors' views on Intelligence and
Instinct. (N.B. : Thickness of straight arrows is meant to convey extent of
influence. Thick arrows denote conspicuous and well pronounced influence, and
thin arrows influence not so obvious.)
An
alternative explanation of instinct
Psychologists
have now discarded use of the term instinct. They believe that the term
"has ceased to be a useful concept" (Hinde, 1974). The main objection
to the instinct concept - it does not adequately explain the nature of what is
called instinctive behaviour. According to Hinde (1974) to state that a certain
behaviour is instinctive is to provide a cloak for our ignorance.An alternative
explanation is being offered now for instinctive behaviour. This explanation,
as discussed by Hinde (1974), includes two main points, viz.:
1. The so
called instinctive behaviour is shown only when some internal changes, depending
upon stage of development or physiological state, have taken place in the
animal. Such changes produce a certain "motivation" or
"urge". Perception of some external changes may trigger expression of
the urge. For example, an adult in breeding season has mature gonads and the
hormonal make up needed for its nesting behaviour. Certain climatic changes,
ushering in the breeding season, trigger the nesting behaviour.
2. Generally
what we call an instinctive behaviour includes a chain of activities, and for each
activity a separate "motivation" or "urge" is needed. For
example, a bird in the breeding season feels an urge to collect nesting
material, then transfers the material to a suitable nesting site, and then
makes or weaves a nest. As per the explanation, offered by the author,
development of a motivation leads to the first or initial activity. The result
of the first activity becomes the stimulus situation for expression of another
motivation, resulting in production of stimulus for still another motivation
and so on.
The motivation
concept is no doubt a more detailed explanation of instinctive behaviour, but,
even when we use this concept, we are still using a garb or a cloak to a cover
our ignorance. How otherwise do we explain in the example, cited above, why a
certain bird, in the initial activity of its nesting behaviour, chooses pieces
of straw and not pebbles?
In our opinion
"instinct" continues to be a useful term for most biological writing,
though one should be aware that often when we refer to an instinct, it may be a
cluster of instincts or motivational urges.
Special
features of human intelligence
Mammals,
specially higher primates including humans, are markedly intelligent in their
behaviour. They learn by those very basic learning methods which psychologists
talk of, viz. habituation, imprinting, sensitization and classical and
instrumental conditioning. But these animals have some special attributes to
make their learning process and intelligence remarkable and complex. The
following is an attempt to make out those special features.
1. Learning
facility
Birds and
mammals show a well marked facility in learning. They learn faster than lower
animals. Mammals are superior to birds in this respect.
2. Capacity
to reorganize elements of experience and to form principles on basis of
learning.
Mammals,
specially nonhuman primates and Man, have the capacity to reorganize elements
of past experience to solve a new problem. Let us take a simple example. The
following experiment is included in the text-book by Dethier and Stellar
(1968). Some rats were taught two different activities separately. Activity
number 1 : the rats learnt to use a ladder to climb down from a table to the
floor and explore that floor for food. Activity number 2: they were later
taught to climb up a ladder to reach a table top, from which they used a
run-way or bridge to reach another table top with food. After the rats had
learnt well the two activities, a special situation was created. Two tables
with ladders were arranged in a room. On table number 1 some food was kept, but
it was so fenced that a rat on this table could not reach it. The food, however
could be reached from table number 2, the top of which was connected by a
bridge with the food holding part of the top of table number 1 (see figure
2.2). When rats, trained for the two activities, were released on table number
1 out-side the fence around food, they readily climbed down from the table to
the floor, scrambled on the floor to reach the ladder with the table number 2,
climbed up this ladder, and, using the bridge, reached the food. Seemingly the
rats were using elements of the past experience to solve a new problem.
Another
example: young chimpanzees in captivity play with different objects variously.
If in their enclosure there are empty packing boxes, they would arrange them on
one another. If bamboo sticks are available, they would "eat" around
an end of a stick to make it thinner, and try to fix this end into hollow of
another stick to make a longer pole. During the World War I Kohler observed
that his captive chimpanzees would climb on a packing box to reach a banana,
suspended from the ceiling. If one box was not enough to reach the food, it
would put another over it, and, if necessary, a third one, and then climb over
boxes and get the banana. Similarly, if a banana were lying on floor out-side
the cage, the captive chimpanzee used a bamboo stick to rake in the fruit. If
one stick was not long enough to reach the banana, the animal would join
to-gether two sticks to make a longer rake. Seemingly the Kohler's chimps were
using elements of behaviour, learnt earlier during play, to solve new problems.
Nonhuman and
human intelligence also includes the property of forming principles on basis of
experience. Jane Goodall has put on record the story of a gorilla tribe in East
Africa that avoided jeeps and cars years after one young gorilla had been shot
at and killed by somebody on a jeep. As Goodall has pointed out, this
observation suggests a communication system in the tribe. It also suggests that
a principle had been formed in the tribe, that automobiles were too dangerous
to be nearby.
FIG. 2.2:
Diagram to illustrate an experiment with rats. Results of the experiment show
that rats may use elements of past experiences to solve a new problem. For
details see the text.
Conceptual
thinking, consciousness and in-sight
Conceptual
thinking or symbolization, that is concept or symbol formation, is a
characteristic of human intelligence. These symbols may be expressed in an
articulate series orally or by writing with hand on a flat surface. The former
way of expression has led to speech and language, and the latter to writing and
literature. These expressions have been of vital importance in communication in
human society. There are some indications of this that apes too are capable of
concept formation and articulation, though only to a small extent.
Another
peculiarity of human intelligence is consciousness, the nature of which has
been much debated. Roughly by consciousness we mean self awareness and self
evaluation. The various attempts to explain consciousness fall under two
categories, those which ascribe the phenomenon to a life force or soul, which
is apart from the body, and whose presence in the body is necessary for life
and consciousness, and those, which regard consciousness as a nervous
phenomenon, as due to a highly evolved and intricate arrangement of synapses.
The first category of explanations amount to metaphysics, an area out-side the
scope of the present treatment. The other category of explanations seem to have
a scientific basis, as the role of neurons and synapses in sensory perception,
neural integration and in mediating motor responses are well established,
though it has so far not been possible to adequately explain the mechanism of
memory, reasoning and consciousness. Consciousness seems to have evolved
gradually, as even primitive forms, like fishes and crustaceans, have
proprioreception and statoreception, i.e. perception of body's own movements and
of orientation of the body with reference to the direction of gravity
respectively.
Of late the
concept of voices, internal and silent in the mind shaping consciousness, has
been gaining acceptance among psychologists. Lev Vyogotsky, a Russian
psychologist, noted in 1930s that children, between 2 and 7 years in age, often
take to self-addressed audible speaking, organizing their thoughts and
planning. Later, when it has become well practised, this habit of
self-addressed speaking become internal and inaudible mental working and
consciousness. Psychologists regard this inner voice as memory and reasoning
aided by the acquired language. Language audibly spoken, written or internal
and inaudible, helps in carving out concepts.
But then
earlier it has been said that language is a product of conceptual thinking. Now
it is being said that language helps in making of concepts. Are the two
statements not mutually contradictory? Well, the situation is roughly analogous
to that of making tools, which then can be helpful in making more tools,
including advanced ones and complex machines. After a growing human individual
has acquired a good grip on a language, the language greatly helps him in
concept making, reasoning, planning and making decisions. Perhaps ancient Hindu
philosophers had realized the significance of language in learning and concept
making, and that is why they gave the name "VANI" (=speech) to
Saraswati, the goddess of learning and wisdom.
Besides the
internal "audio" human mental working also includes an internal
"video". A support for this notion: forms, preserved in memory,
appear in varying sequences in dream.
Now let us
turn to "in-sight". By "in-sight" is meant internal
visualization of a problem and its possible solution. A good illustration of
this is provided by classical and simple psychological experiments on
"detour". One such experiment is shown in the figure 2.3. A mammal,
say a jackal, has been tied with a cord, which at its other end has been tied
to a pole, the pole number 1. The cord goes round an obstacle, say a pole, the
pole number 2, before reaching the animal. When the animal is in position shown
in the figure, it is exposed to food kept in such a position that the animal
can reach it only when the cord does not go round the pole number 2, and is
fully extended. How will the animal reach the food? We may think of three
possibilities:
(a) The animal
either altogether fails to reach the food, or runs about excitedly and solves
the problem by "accident".
(b) It solves
the problem by trial and error. On repeated exposure the animal may learn to
solve it in fewer attempts or even in a single attempt.
(c) It solves
the problem in one attempt on first exposure.
The third
possibility obviously speaks of in-sight. Only primates among mammals show some
degree of success in solving the problem of getting to the food in one attempt
on first exposure.
FIG. 2.3:
Diagram to illustrate an experiment on "detour". Only Primates
sometimes are able to solve the problem of reaching the food on first exposure
i.e. without trial and error.
Social
Memory
In humans, and
to a small extent in mammals and birds too, experience of previous generation
is passed on to the developing generation through a long post-natal care and
education. This socially accumulated experience and learning or social memory
plays a very important role in shaping behaviour. The human capacity of
symbolization or conceptual thinking, leading to language, writing and
literature, has had a great impact in development of social memory in humans.
Concluding
remarks
The special
features of human intelligence, enumerated and discussed above (but for social
memory), obviously depend to a large extent on the genetic make-up. But basic
learning, through conditioning, imprinting etc., and acquisition of knowledge
and skill through social memory depend mostly on environmental exposure. It is
known now that in a child between the age of four and ten years a large number
of synapses in the brain disappear. How many brain synapses survive in this
phase of development has a relation to the extent and variety of learning
experience, to which the child is exposed. Thus development of intelligence in
Man has a strong genetic basis, and at the same time environment too plays a
significant role in this.
Human
intelligence, in association with social memory and technology, has led to
development of civilization, which, besides being a unique and wonderful
phenomenon, has been causing a heavy drain of resources on the earth, and has
been responsible for extinction of a large number of animals and plants. It is
high time that we intelligently evaluate human intelligence for its advantages
and limitations, and plan and execute steps to minimize further damage to the biosphere.
3.
EVOLUTION OF MODERN MAN
Introduction
Human
evolution is quite a common topic in text-books of zoology and anthropology.
The topic, chosen for this essay, is somewhat different. The present Man is
Homo sapiens as per zoological nomenclature. How, where and when this species
evolved from early and more primitive members of the human family, Hominidae -
this is the central question for the present discussion. But, as a prelude to
this discussion, we may summarily recall the history of evolution of Hominidae.
Evolution
of Hominidae
Members of the
primitive primate subfamily Dryopithecinae were generalised apes, living in
Miocene and Pliocene (i.e. more than 15 million years ago) in Europe, Egypt,
South Africa, India and China. They are believed to have been common ancestors
to the present day apes (Family Simiidae) and the family Hominidae. Earliest
hominids, known to us, are Australopithecines (also referred to as Man-apes)
from Africa. Oldest australopithecine fossils are about 3.5 million years old,
and they seem to have become extinct about 1 million years back. A primitive
australopithecine, like Australopithecus afarensis, discovered and described in
1974 by the American palaeoanthropologist Donald C. Johanson, is regarded as
having been ancestral to the genus Homo, which includes the present day Man.
Early fossils of Homo have been called pithecanthropines. Technically they are
Homo erectus (in common reference ape-man). Their remains have been discovered
in North China, Europe, all over Africa and warmer parts of Asia (Eckhardt,
1979). They appeared 700,000 years back, and were widely distributed 300,000
years ago. Some African pithecanthropines have been estimated to be 1 to 1.5
million years old. They seem to have become extinct nearly 100,000 years ago.
The
pithecanthropines, specially the earlier ones, in their various features, were
quite intermediate between autstralopithecines and the modern Man. Hence the
former are regarded as having been ancestral to the latter.
The
pithecanthropines are believed to have been progenitors of another species of
man, the Neanderthal Man (Home neanderthalensis), who lived in Europe, Middle
East and North Africa, and disappeared about 25,000 years ago.
This summary
of human evolution is illustrated in figure 3.1.
FIG. 3.1:
Evolution of the human family, Hominidae, shown diagrammatically. Note that the
Neanderthal Man (Homo neanderthalensis) and the Modern Man (Homo sapiens) are
believed to have evolved from Homo erectus almost independently.
The central
question
Now let us
return to the central question : how, when and where did the Modern Man evolve?
The first two parts of the question are not very difficult to answer. As has
been pointed out above, early pithecanthropines are regarded as progenitors of
the Modern Man. In fact pithecanthropines were already quite similar to the
present day Man. Some more directional changes in acquisition of erect posture,
larger brain, receding of jawa etc., in response to continued similar selection
pressures, and it would be the Modern Man. As an example of directional nature
of the changes, comparative cranial volume in higher primates is shown in Table
3.1.
Table 3.1:
Comparative Cranial Capacity In Higher Primates (After Mayr, 1963)
Primate Cranial capacity
Larger apes (Chimpanzee and Gorilla) 325 to 650 ml.
Australopithecines 450 to 650 ml.
Pithecanthropines (Java Ape Man) 800 to 1000 ml.
Pithecanthrpines (Peking Man) 900 to 1100 ml.
Modern Man 1200 to 1600 ml.
The earliest
fossils of the Modern Man (Homo sapiens) are known from the Klasies River Mouth
Cave and the Border Cave in South Africa, and from caves at Skhul and Qafzeh on
the Mount Caramel in Israel. Using modern techniques of dating relics, these
remains have been found to be nearly 1,00,000 years old. Bones of anatomically
Modern Man have been found in Kenya and Ethiopia. They have been dated as
70,000 years old or more. Middle palaeolithic culture is associated with early
Modern Man, and earliest tools of this culture have been dated as about 1,30,000
years old. Hence it is believed that about 150,000 years back modern Man
existed, and that about 200,000 years ago two lines of descent arose from a
Homo erectus stock and led to Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens (Stringer,
1990).
Now let us
turn to the remaining part of the question - where did the Modern Man evolve?
It is quite a vexing part of the question, and it is important because it has
some bearing with racial prejudices. Next part of the essay is devoted to this
problem.
FIG. 3.2:
Diagram to illustrate the Multiregional Model.
Place of
evolution of the Modern Man
We are far
from having reached a satisfactory solution to this query. Three main solutions
have been suggested, which have been referred to by Stringer (1990) as the
Multiregional Model, the Gene-flow or Hybridization Model and the African
Model.
According to
the Multiregional Model the racial features of any race have taken long to
evolve. They have evolved in the region, in which the race is found,
independent of racial evolution in other regions. Thus descent of races has
taken place independently in different regions from the Homo erectus level. In
other words, the Modern Man has been polyphyletic in origin, and, therefore
there are several quite different and distinct human races in different
geographical areas. Exceptions to this situation are areas, where recent
migrations have occurred. For example, the North American continent is
inhabited by American Indians, Europeans, Africans and also Asians. This model
has been expressed by a number of palaeoanthropologists. A recent supporter is
M. H. Wolpoff.
The Gene-flow
or Hybridization Model is similar to the Multiregional Model, with the addition
that there have been genetic exchanges through interbreeding between the
different lineages. Such interchanges are believed to have become more frequent
as Homo sapiens was evolving. Thus the Modern Man, as per this model, has
evolved through a web of lineages. Erik Trinkaus and F. H. Smith are supporters
of this model.
The African
Model suggests that the Modern Man arose in Africa from a stock of Home
erectus, and then migrated from here to the Middle East, and subsequently to
other lands. The populations of Homo sapiens, settled in different parts of the
world, due to continued selection in somewhat different directions, developed
their own characteristics and became different geographical races. Thus,
according to this model, Homo sapiens has been monophyletic in origin, and
differences between races are not such deep clefts in their phylogeny or
ancestral history as is suggested by the other two models.
Several
recently discovered evidence favours the African Model. Hence most Zoologists
and Anthropologists to-day find this model more acceptable than the remaining
two. Now let us briefly examine the evidences, which have been provided mainly
by three areas of study, viz. genetic studies, palaeoanthropological studies
and language studies.
FIG. 3.3:
The African Model of origin of Modern Man. (Arrows indicate initial migrations.)
Evidence
from Genetic Studies
DNA, the
genetic material, has been studied in different humanpopulations. In a human
cell, as in cells of all higher organisms, two types of DNA are found, nuclear
DNA or n-DNA, which is in nucleus and chromosomes, and mitochondrial DNA or
mt-DNA, which is the DNA found in respiratory organelles or mitochondria.
From the
present view-point mt-DNA is specially suitable for study. It is inherited only
from the maternal side, and, therefore there is no mix-up of maternal and
paternal DNAs during fertilization and formation of a new individual. Due to
these circumstances inheritance of mt-DNA is a simple lineage, theoretically
traceable to a single woman far back in past. Allan C. Wilson and his group of
workers have used mt-DNA as a molecular clock. They have comparatively studied
a segment of mt-DNA in different human populations, and have tried to imagine
the ancestral condition, and have studied accumulation of mutations in the
chosen segment of mt-DNA in different populations. Keeping in view the present
rate of mutations in the mt-DNA segment, and presuming that this rate has been
consistent throughout, they have tried to work out how long a particular
population has been evolving beyond the ancestral condition. Main inferences of
their study : (1) that the mt-DNA has been evolving for the longest period in
Africa, to be more exact in the Khoisan or Bushman population, (2) that it has
been evolving in certain Homo sapiens populations in Africa for nearly 1,50,000
years. This estimate agrees so well with inferences from Anthropological
studies.
n-DNA has been
studied in human populations to solve the problem, under discussion, from two
standpoints, viz. through expression of certain genes and by preparing DNA
profiles. Studies on these lines have been based on the principle that greater
the period of separation between two populations greater the difference in
their DNA. It will happen even if there is no natural selection; it will be
through random mutations and genetic drift.
Cavalli-Sforza
of Standford University, USA, and his colleagues Menozzi and Piazza have
studied frequency of some 100 genes (e.g. the gene for Rh factor) in 1800
different populations, each sample consisting of several hundred individuals.
It was a 12 year project (Cavalli-Sforza, 1991). Their results clearly
suggested that the genetic distances between Africans and non-Africans were
greater than in any other inter-continental comparison.
DNA profiles
or DNA finger printing for different populations have been studied by
Cavalli-Sforza and also by Kenneth Kidd and Judith Kidd of the Yale University.
From these studies the inferences, in words of Cavalli-Sforza (1991), are,
"The genetic distance between Africans and Non-Africans is roughly twice
that between Australians and Asians, and the latter more than twice apart than
between Europeans and Asians. The corresponding times of separation suggested
by Palaeoanthropology are in similar ratios....."
Evidence
from Palaeoanthropology
Earliest
remains of the Modern Man are known from the caves at the mouth of the river
Klasies in South Africa. They are nearly 100,000 yearsold. From 1930 onwards in
a number of caves in the Middle East human remains have been found. They seem
to be remnants of burials. At some places indications of burial rituals have
been discovered. In an Iraqi cave, called Shanidar, remains of a man, two women
and an infant have been found. The relics are about 100,000 years old, and
pollen of early spring wild flowers have been noted around the human remains
(Anonymous, 1996).
Two caves,
those of Skhul and Taboon, in Israel have been found to hold very old human
skeletal remains. The fossils at Skhul have been identified as of early modern
humans, and, using reliable modern techniques, have been dated as nearly
100,000 years old, and those at Tabun as of Neanderthal Man and about 120,000
years old. Nearly 1,00,000 years old remains of the Modern Man have been dug
out also at Qafzeh. Neanderthal fossils, dug out at Kebara, have been estimated
to be nearly 60,000 years old.
Thus earliest
remains of the Modern Man, Homo sapiens are known from South Africa and also
from that part of the Middle East which is close to the present location of the
Suez Canal. Very early Modern Man's remains (70,000 years old or more) are also
known from East Africa. These finds suggest that the Modern Man arose from the
Homo erectus level either in South-east Africa or in the Western part of the
Middle East (figure 3.3).
In the
foregoing account the Neanderthal Man has been mentioned. This species has been
so named because its fossils were first discovered in the Neanderthal Valley in
Germany. The species presents a number of specialised features, such as heavy
brow ridges, flat skull roof or platycephaly, large cranial capacity, even more
than in the Modern Man, and cheek bones presenting out-ward angles. They are
believed to have been quite intelligent, and having their own primitive culture
and language.
We are still
not quite clear about Modern Man's relations with the Neanderthal Man. In
Europe the Neanderthal Man appeared first, and Homo sapiens later. Hence it has
been often suggested that the former was ancestral to the latter. But as we
have noted above, the Neanderthal Man with his specialized features was present
not only before but also after the modern man appeared. Hence now generally the
Neanderthal Man is not accepted as a progenitor of Homo sapiens, confirmed by
mitochondrial DNA sequencing.
In Europe
primitive Homo sapiens, called the Cro-Magnon Man, appeared about 40,000 years
ago, whereas in the middle East and also in Africa, who were living even nearly
100,000 years ago. In Europe the Neanderthal Man lived and had acquired
Neanderthal characteristics about 125,000 years back. Nearly 10,000 years after
appearance of the Cro-Magnon Man, that is nearly 30,000 years from now, the
Neanderthals disappeared. We do not know what happened to them. One suggestion
is that they interbred with Modern Man and lost their identity. But Stringer
(1990) points out, "The Kebara Neanderthal (i.e. the Middle East
Neanderthals, some specimens of which have been discovered in the Kebara Cave)
may have lived 40,000 years after the two populations (i.e. the Neanderthals
and the moderns) could have come in contact, yet this specimen (i.e. the Kebara
specimen) shows no signs of hybridization with the modern humans - in fact it
is one of the most robust and characteristic of Neanderthal skeletons."
Similarly human remains, discovered in the Middle East, 30 to 40 thousand years
old, show no sign of hybridization between Neanderthals and moderns.
In view of
these facts it is generally accepted now that the Neanderthal Man was a
different species from the modern. It is further believed that the
pithecanthropines (Homo erectus) gave rise to Homo neanderthalensis in Europe,
and to Homo sapiens in Africa/Middle East. How did the moderns replace the
Neanderthals in Europe and Middle East? Perhaps they proved superior to
Neanderthals in competition. Anonymous (1996) pointed out the possibility that
"That (the moderns) survived the glacial cold as they were equipped with
better shelters, tailored clothing and more efficient hearths".
Anthropological finds indicate that the Neanderthals had fairly well developed
stone age culture, but moderns were culturally more advanced.
Palaeoanthropological
studies suggest separation between Africans and Asians about 100,000 years ago,
between Asians and Australians nearly 50,000 years back, and between Asians and
Europeans about 35,000 years ago. Thus separation between populations of
moderns, in different areas is in the same proportion/ratio as genetic
distances between them (vide supra).
Another
significant inference from such studies : fossil record of hominids about
300,000 years old indicates close relation between populations of Europe and
Africa on one hand and of China and Indonesia on the other. By about 100,000
years ago hominid populations in different regions looked quite different. Now
there were Neanderthals in Europe and West Asia, modern humans in Africa and
West Asia, Homo erectus and other primitive forms in China and Far East. 20,000
to 30,000 years from now very much similar primitive moderns were inhabiting
Europe, Asia and Australia.
Evidence
from Linguistics
Languages have
been evolving with people. Some linguists have tried to prepare evolutionary
tree for world languages. There is a remarkable correspondence between an
evolutionary tree for languages and an evolutionary dendrogram for human
populations based on genetic distances between them (Cavalli-Sforza, 1991).
This situation attests the naturalness of the tree based on genetic distances
and showing origin in Africa.
It may well be
asked why there should be correspondence between a genetic tree and linguistic
tree, when we know that it is not the genes which decide the language one
speaks. One's tongue is decided by the environment in which one grows up. That
even then there may be correspondence between the two evolutionary trees is
explained by Cavalli-Sforza (1991) as follows. Genes are inherited from
generation to generation, that is in a vertical manner. Language on the other
hand is learnt both from the parents and also from the members of the same
generation, that is both vertically as well as horizontally. Horizontal language
learning is more pronounced in urban areas. Adoption of language of another
population due to cultural or political invasion is also more marked in urban
areas. On the other hand vertical learning of language is more pronounced in
rural areas. Linguists, keeping in view this situation, have mostly confined
their study among tribals and aborginals.
If a
population gets divided into two parts, and the two move into different areas
and become isolated from each other, the two isolated parts will become genetically
somewhat different due to evolution taking place in a little different
directions. Their language may also become somewhat different due to local
influences. But both the gene pools as well as their languages will retain the
same basic structure/constitution as at the point of bifurcation. Thus courses
of genetic and language evolution are close and parallel. This explains why
there should be correspondence between linguistic and genetic trees.
Thus the
African Model is gaining ground, and we are inclined to believe in African and
monophyletic origin of the Modern Man, and in that the races of Homo sapiens
are local and geographical races.(In a symposium, held in October 1997 at the
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, geneticitsts, who had before them an
immense amount of data regarding human populations, upheld the African Model of
origin of the Modern Man.)
4.
APES TO MAN - WHY NOT NOW?
Introduction
Quite a few
times we have faced an innocent but baffling question - if Man has evolved from
apes on loss of forest cover, and if there are apes at present and also fast
receding forests, why apes are not changing into Man now.
The question
is baffling because we tend to forget that cases of organic evolution are
actually experiments in nature, outcome of the experiments depending on a
complex of factors and not on just one or a few factors alone. A successful
evolutionary experiment is due to a rare combination of certain favourable factors.
On basis of what we know of human evolution, let us try to make out those
favourable factors which led to Man descending from apes. Let us begin with
primitive apes, which are believed to have been ancestral to Man.
Primitive
apes
By primitive
apes we are here referring to the apes living in the geological periods Miocene
and Pliocene, that is nearly 20 million years ago. Their fossils have been
discovered in different parts of Africa and Eurasia, including the Siwalik
deposits of India. There are strong indications that the living great apes as
well as Man have descended from the primitive apes.
It is
important to note that the primitive apes were much less specialised than the
present day apes. Mayr (1963) has quoted the following from the anthropologists
Le Gros Clark and Leakey (1951) to point to lack of specialised skull features
of the modern apes in the apes of Miocene and Pliocene. The anthropologists
concluded, "that the characteristic features of the skulls of the African
apes of to-day, such as the powerful supraorbital torus, the large circular and
forwardly directed orbits associated with a strong development of their lateral
margins, the broadening of the lower extremity of the nasal aperture, the
extension downward and forward of the subnasal part of the premaxilla, and
widening of the symphysial region of the mandible in association with a
relative hypertrophy of the incisor teeth, and the development of a simian
shelf, were probably all secondary developments which appeared at a later stage
of evolution (i.e. beyond the primitive ape stage)".
The present
day apes are specialized for brachiating, that is moving from branch to branch
by swinging with the help of arms and hands. Their fore-limbs are as a result
longer than hind-limbs. It is due to this difference between the two pairs of
limbs that, when moving on land on all fours, the body is semierect or stooping
forward, and not horizontal as in monkeys. However, this specialised feature,
viz. the longer fore-limbs, was not there in the primitive apes. Describing the
situation in the primitive ape, Pliopithecuse of Europe, Mayr (1963) points
out, "The discovery of some fairly complete skeletons..... has revealed
that this form was not yet a specialised brachiator, and that the proportions
of the anterior extremities (in relation to the trunk) did not deviate
materially from those of man....".
Such primitive
and unspecialised apes could be fore-runners of the specialised apes of the
present fauna as well as of Man. Specialised forms, like chimpanzee or gorilla,
if faced with a large scale environment change, such as disappearance of
forests and their replacement with grassy plains, the fate of such animals
would be extinction and not modification through evolution.
Tendency to
evolve in the hominid direction in the primitive apes
Some among
primitive apes were with features suggesting beginning of the human family,
Hominidae, while some others suggested transition to the modern apes.
The living
apes differ obviously in the form and arrangement of cones, ridges and furrows
on the grinding surface of cheek teeth or molars. Primatologists can easily
identify the ape from the molar pattern. Chiefly on basis of molar structure
Palaeosimia and Sivapithecus from among the primitive apes, known from the
Siwalik foot-hills of India, have been regarded as progenitors of orangutan.
(It may be pointed out here that fossils of orang have been found in the Asian
mainland, though at present this ape is found only in Sumatra and Borneo.)
Similarly Proconsul descending from Dryopithecus fontani - like form, has been
taken to represent ancestors of chimpanzee, and Dryopithecus punjabicus as
those of gorilla. The earliest known primitive ape, Parapithecus from early
Caenozoic deposits of Egypt is believed to have been the starting point of not
only the above mentioned phyletic lines, but also of one including
Propliopithecus, Pliopithecus, and Prohylobates leading to the present day
gibbon (figure 4.1).
FIG. 4.1:
Evolutionary tree showing evolution for living apes and Man. * = living apes.
FIG. 4.2:
Lower molar tooth pattern in some dryopithecines and the Modern Man. Note that,
while in Dryopithecus chinjiensis the pattern comes close to that in modern
apes, in Dryopithecus darwini, with only a small change, will become similar to
that in Man. (After Nesturkh, 1967.)
Humans are
characterised by a cruciform molar pattern. There are four main elevations or
cusps on the molar surface, and they are nearly equal in size, and are
separated by a cruciform furrow. Beginning of this molar pattern may be seen in
the fossils of some dryopithecine primitive apes, Dryopithecus darwini,
Ramapithecuse and Kenyapithecus. Moreover in Ramapithecus the gap or diastema
between the upper canine and the first premolar tooth has disappeared as in
Man. Such features suggest tendency of evolution of these primitive apes in the
human direction.
Dryopithecus
fontani is believed to represent the common ancestors of Dryopithecus
darwini-like forms, evolving into the human family, Hominidae, and also of
Proconsul, which is believed to have been ancestral to the modern chimpanzee.
Thus the human family has its closest cousin in chimpanzee among the living
primates.
The above
account of primate fossil record provides substantial support for the notion
that the primitive apes of Miocene and Pliocene have been the common ancestors
of the specialised living apes as well as humans.
Prerequisites
of human evolution
The fossil
study, which has been summarised in the previous section, tells only a part of
the story of origin of Man, because of its inherent limitation that only hard
parts, bones and teeth fossilise. However, by comparing structure and life of
living apes and Man, we can well imagine what other requirements, other than
the features revealed by fossilised bony remains of the relatively
unspecialised primitive apes, were there for the onset of the evolutionary
journey in the human direction.
Apes possess
increased intelligence and stereoscopic vision, as also monkeys (see experiment
on "in-sight" in the Essay 2, suggesting increased intelligence in
Primates). Hence there is a basis to believe that the primitive apes had these
traits.
Prehensile
fore-limbs are found throughout the group of Primates, being a feature of arboreal
adaptation. Hence this also may be safely presumed that the primitive apes had
such fore-limbs.
One important
difference between living apes and Man is that the former do no have voice and
speech. Chimpanzee can, however be trained to communicate with some amount of
articulation, using either "Ameslan" (=American Sign Language) or a
modified computer key board. Lack of voice and speech is because chimpanzee
does not have such vocal cords and such lower jaw articulation as permit
producing a variety of sounds. Somewhere in human evolution it seems that vocal
cords became a little changed and mandibular articulation adapted for a greater
variety of movements making voice and speech possible. According to Nesturkh
(1967) the place of inarticulate sounds in communication was taken by
articulate speech for the first time in the Neanderthal Man. We doubt if Homo
erectus had speech, though Dubois, interpreting the convolutions on the frontal
lobes of the brain, as seen in a cranial cast of a pithecanthropine skull,
believes that this early hominid had primitive speech (Nesturkh, 1967).
Most monkey
and all living apes live in herds, small or large (Nesturkh, 1967). Hence it
can be presumed that the primitive apes too had the herd instinct. This
situation falls readily in line with the Crowd Theory of Achildiyev (see Essay
6), and can explain the origin of human social life.
One
significant difference between present day apes and Man is in the posture in
their locomotion on ground. Man is erect and bipedal. His fore-limbs have
become fully liberated from locomotion. In a modern ape the posture on land is
semi-erect and stooping forward; while most of the body weight is carried by
the lower extremities, knuckles of the long and brachiating fore-limbs reach
the ground and provide supplementary support to the body. It is tempting to
imagine that an ape-like semi-erect posture has changed in course of evolution
to the erect posture of humans. But then we believe that the primitive apes of
Miocene and Pliocene have been ancestral to Man, and, as we have noted earlier,
they were having fore-limbs with almost the same proportionate length as in
Man, and not as extra-long brachiating limbs. How do we explain the situation
then?
On basis of
fossil studies it has been inferred that long brachiating arms and the habit of
brachiation have evolved independently in the four species of living apes,
gibbons, orang, chimpanzee and gorilla, that is these characteristics have
resulted from evolutionary parallelism (Mayr, 1963). Various skeletal features,
such as position of the foramen magnum and development of the occipital torus
on the skull, form of pelvis etc., suggest that posture in australopithecines,
the earliest hominids known, was nearly erect. But at the same time higher location
of the shoulder blade on the trunk and longer fore-limbs, suggest "that
the locomotor behavior of the australopithecines' ancestors included
arm-swinging or brachiation" (Eckhardt, 1979). It seems, therefore that
the primitive apes of Miocene and Pliocene had potentials to evolve brachiation
adaptations as well as those connected with transfer of cursorial locomotion to
the hind-limbs, and that these potentials found expression repeatedly and
independently among evolving anthropoids through parallel evolution along
different lines.
Thus there are
grounds to believe that presence of certain features or traits and evolutionary
potentials in the relatively unspecialised apes of Miocene and Pliocene as a
rare combination made it possible to turn the evolutionary journey in the
hominid direction.
Interaction
of traits in human evolution
The various
traits and evolutionary potentials have interacted in various ways in the
course of human evolution. These interactions have been discussed in the Essay 1.
Some of them may be briefly recalled here. Growing intelligence and conceptual
thinking or symbolisation, coupled with suitable vocal cords and jaws with
greater freedom of movement, have led to words and speech, and in association
with prehensile hands to writing and literature. Speech and writing, besides
making interhuman communication efficient, have contributed significantly to
development of cumulative learning or social memory. The combination of
intelligence and prehensile hands have led to making and using of tools, which
augmented by social memory, has developed into a highly complex technology.
Speech and capacity to make drawings, using object-holding hands, have
permitted expression of esthetic feelings and development of arts. Thus the traits
interaction has resulted in development of the whole complex called
civilization. It is said that intelligent dolphins could evolve their own
civilization, if they had prehensile limbs. One may add another similar
statement-blessed with human vocal cords chimpanzee could have a language
resembling humans.
Concluding
remarks
From the
foregoing account an inference is obvious, that appearance of relatively
unspecialized apes in Miocene and Pliocene with a unique combination of traits
and potentials made human evolution possible. The traits and potentials have
interacted in a complex way resulting in a singularly astounding (and also
destructive) phenomenon of the organic world, the development of human
civilization.
5.
THE PROBLEM OF EQUALITY
Introduction
Equality or
equal status for all is a sociological need. Efforts to achieve equality,
inspite of prejudices, based on caste, profession, earthly/physical belongings
etc., started quite early in human history. Several religious leaders tried to
undo the caste system. Different religions promoted
"daan"/alms/donations to reduce the extent of material inequality.
Such efforts have continued to date. Even then we are far from having
established equality in our society. Why have we not succeeded?
Let us take an
extreme example. Recently in the Soviet Union, a big sociological experiment
failed completely. It has been an experiment with communism, and communism is
based on the principle of equality. Failure of the Russian communism took place
inspite of careful and rational shaping of the social structure, ignoring all
traditions, myths and taboos. Kapitza (1991b), a Russian Professor of Physics,
writing on anti-science trends in the USSR, has described the Russian communist
society as "a society that until recently was purportedly proscientific,
rational and even 'scientifically' designed". Then why has the experiment
failed? Another example of reversal from hard core communism: China, though
still professing to tow communist lines, is experimenting with open or market
economy with encouraging results. Vietnam is following the lead (Kaiser, 1994).
One reason for
failure of communism may be pinpointed; the communist planning did not take
into account the biological variability in a human population. It would be more
correct to say that the variability was willfully ignored. Infact there is need
to redefine equality in view of biological variations. Let us become familiar
with the phenomenon of variation in an organic population before proceeding
further with our discussion.
Biological
variability
Variability is
a rule in the organic world. In a population individuals differ among
themselves in their various features, such as height, complexion, proportion of
different organs, intellectual capacity, general body build etc.. Such
differences have been referred to also as individual variations. Infact such
variations ascribe individuality to members of a population. To a foreigner all
Chinese may look alike at the first sight, but a little familiarity with a
Chinese population will reveal that individuals in the population have their
own peculiar features, and thus each is as much individually recongnisable as
any other. Seeds, collected from the same plant, when sown, produce plants,
showing varations in numerous different features. Infact a population of any
organic species presents such varations.
Individual
variations are known to be of two kinds, genetic and environmental. Genetic
variations are due to changes in genes or the genetic material (technically
such changes are called mutations), and also due to recombination and
reassortment of such changed and normal genes during production of gametes ,
that is sperms and ova, and during fertilization. Genetic varations will
appear, even if two individuals grow up and live under uniform environmental
conditions. Environmental variations, on the other hand are due varying
conditions of the environment. An individual plant, growing in a well lighted
and well irrigated part of a garden plot becoming taller and healthier than
another plant of the same variety, which is not getting enough light and water,
is an example of environmental varation. Another example: an almost oriental
browning of skin shown by an English sailor spending most of his time exposed
to harsh sun.
In the human
species, among the environmental factors, cultural influences play a very
important role in determining the non-genetic part of variability. Infact
cultural inheritance, that is inheritance not due to genes but due to influence
of the cultural surroundings, in which one grows up, plays a significant part
in shaping individuality in Man. Such features, as state of health, feeding
habits, language, tendency to obey or violate prevalent social laws and moral
codes etc., are determined to a considerable extent by the cultural
environment. Often it is very difficult to decide whether a particular human
trait is genetically or culturally controlled or is under influence of both.
Though cultural inheritance is important in shaping individuality, one should
not underestimate the role of genetic inheritance. As Mayr (1963), discussing
humans as a biological species, puts it, "...(genetic) inheritance does
play a considerable role and it can only do harm to ignore this role".
In this
context it may be pointed out that the human species presents a lot of
variability. In fact humans are more variable than most other animal species.
The factors, accentuating human variability, include : (i) reduced selection
pressure due to cultural/technological protection, and (ii) human restlessness
and large scale migrations, which were taking place even very early in history,
when technologically advanced transport was not available. Such migrations
resulted in genetic intermixing among geographical isolates. This situation has
been mainly responsible for the human species not speciating any further.
It is a
fundamental concept of the present day science of Genetics that environmental
variations do not affect the genetic mechanism, and are not genetically
inherited, though some environmental factors, such as ultra-violet radiation,
nuclear radiations and some chemical irritants, accelerate the process of
mutations. Children of a 'brown' English sailor will have normal 'white' skin,
until they themselves take to sailor's life.
Individual
variations permit adaptations to different environmental conditions and needs,
and are significant for survival of the species. They help a fine distribution
of labour, as is found in the human society. They are significant also from the
standpoint of evolution. It is believed that Darwinian selection occurs on the
basis of the genetic part of the individual variations. In animal and plant
breeding selection to get desired varieties on the basis of genetic variations.
Lamarckism
and Russian Genetics
A French
biologist, Lamarck, who came before Darwin and who also wrote about organic
evolution, had a different story to tell. He believed that individual
variations were all due to use and disuse of organs and effect of environment.
According to him the more an organ is used the better developed it becomes.
Further he believed that variations among individuals, acquired through extent
of use of organs and effect of varying environmental conditions, become
absorbed in the hereditary mechanism, and thus they become a part of heredity.
Two populations of a species, living in different areas, isolated from each
other, may thus come to absorb different changes into their heredity, as their
conditions of life and environmental needs may differ. They may become, due to
such changes, different subspecies, or given more time different species. Thus
new species are formed.
The present
century has witnessed a rapid development of the science of Genetics. We have
even achieved capability of tinkering with genes, and doing what we call
Genetic Engineering. As we have learnt more and more about mechanism of
inheritance, we have developed a better insight into the mechanism of
evolution, because evolution is only descent with modification. While Darwin's
concept of selection (with some changes) and Lamarck's concept of isolation of
similar populations have been accepted as essential parts of the mechanism of
evolution, Lamarck's concept of inheritance of variations, acquired through use
and disuse of organs and effect varying conditions of environment, has not been
found acceptable. The unacceptable concept of Lamarck has been referred to as
the Lamarckian Principle or Lamarckism. In this context it may be noted that
parental imprinting of the genic set is known, but the imprinting effect is
temporary and erasable (Sapienza, 1990).
The science of
Genetics, however "progressed" along different lines is USSR. Though
there were such front-line geneticists in Russia as Koltsov, Sakharov, Dubinin,
Chetverikov, Vavilov and Timofeyev-Resovskiy during 1920s, T. Lysenko, who was
personally known to Stalin, came up with a revolutionary theory of Genetics,
and could catch fancy of politicians. Lysenko's theory may be referred to as
Neo-Lamarckism. According to this theory changes, produced in organisms as
environmental effects, become incorporated in the hereditary mechanism, and
thus organisms undergo genetic changes (Lysenko, 1953). In support he pointed
out his experiments on vernalization of wheat, which were only incompletely described
and could not be repeated elsewhere in the world. (By treating a winter variety
of wheat with moisture at a low temperature it can be made to flower early like
a spring variety. This effect, called vernalization of wheat, was known to
western scientists, but they found the effect temporary and environmental.
Lysenko, however claimed that by bringing about vernalization in a special way
a permanent hereditary spring variety could be produced. The special way was
never disclosed to the world.) Some contemporary Russian biologists offered
similar inconclusive and unverifiable experimental support. Stalin personally
supported Lysenko's views. Julian Huxley, after his visit to USSR along with
some other English biologists to have first hand information about this
revolutionary development of Genetics, described Lysenko's Genetics (which had
come to be known in 1940 as the Russian Genetics) as a political controversy in
the disguise of a scientific revolution. Kapitza (1991a), discussing the state
of Soviet science, says, "Basic research in Biology was dealt a deadly
blow by Lysenko".
Neo-Lamarckism
or the Russian Genetics seemed to agree well with the communist philosophy.
Given uniform environment, uniformly able and useful citizens would be
produced. Stalin's support gave it further strength. Thus wishful neglect of
the genetic part of biological variability continued.
Leaving
genetic variability completely out of consideration has been one of the factors
leading to failure of communes as production units. A person, who was not
inherently inclined to hard labour and who would idle away his time in a
commune farm, had an undesirable effect on others in the commune. The role of
this factor could be seen also in some members of a Chinese commune, before the
period of the 'great leap', working extra in their private kitchen gardens and
animal farms, and thus affording to spend on Hong Kong luxuries, while others
were critical of them for their capitalists' tendencies. Ignoring the existence
of genetic variations also led to lack of appreciation of the situation that
all in a society would not think alike, and even if someone reasonably
expressed his dissent against some part of the existing system, he was branded
as bourgeois agent, and he was criticised and punished. All repression of the
rigid communist rule and all the heavy indoctrination, accompanying it, led to
apparent uniformity of thinking and ideology. As soon as the repression was
removed, which happened with introduction of Mikhail S. Gorbachev's "perestroika",
not only diversity of opinion came to surface, but there also appeared a
reaction so strong that the Soviet Union broke up into a number of independent
nations.
With
"perestroika" came open acceptance by Russian authors of unscientific
nature of the Russian Genetics, which flourished during the days of Stalin and
Khrushchev. As the Russian biologists Surikov and Zakharov (1991) have written,
"The gloomy epoch of Lysenko's rule ended after Stalin's death and
Khrushchev's removal from power in 1964, but effects of persecution of Genetics
are felt even to-day".
Such
disenchantment with socialism has not been confined to USSR. Describing
"New" China Butterfield (1992) said "....... Deng (Xiaoping)
allowed a return of family farming in the country side, permitted the revival
of private enterprise and tried to introduce the profit motive in
industry". Similar changes in Vietnam have been hinted at in the
introduction part of this essay. Johnson (1992), referring to the victory of
the Conservatives over Labour in British parliamentary elections, said,
".... interviews with voters leaving the polls made it clear that Labours'
call for redistribution of wealth held less appeal than the Conservatives'
promise of greater economic opportunity." This greater economic
opportunity actually means opportunity to struggle and compete. Struggle and
competition improve not only individual performance but also performance of the
population as a whole. Biologically speaking struggle and competition are
ingredients of the mechanism of development of adaptations.
Equality in
Biological Perspective
Having become
familiar with the genetic part of individual variability let us now turn to the
problem of equality in scientific perspective. While a human population
exhibits rich variability, humanity demands equality. The demand is based on
sympathy and good-will for the like, and it has it roots in the instinct for
species survival, and it has become accentuated by the social instincts. (As
Hinde, 1974 has pointed out, human social behaviour is guided by several
different instincts.) A leading modern evolutionist, Dobzhansky has clarified
that equality is a social or ethical concept, and not a biological one. The
modern pioneer taxonomist Mayr (1963) has said "Equality inspite of evident
non-identity is a somewhat sophisticated concept, and requires a moral stature
of which many individuals seem incapable". Sophistication, in this
statement, obviously refers to a high placement in the scale of human
refinement and morality, and to the capacity to decide socially wrong and
right. That these human qualities are necessary for achieving true equality
will be appreciated when going through the following discussion.
Equality,
according to Mayr (1963), means "equal opportunity to all to make the best
of one's genetic endowment". In view of genetic variability identical
opportunity to all will not mean real equality. In the present human society
there is such a fine distribution of labour that vast majority of us can find,
inspite of our variability, a suitable or near suitable social
"niche" each. The main constraints in this are the following:
(a) Variable
material inheritance. Such inheritance determines in most cases the facility
with which one is able to get trained for and reach a suitable social niche.
(Material inheritance means inheritance of wealth, property and social status.)
(b) Social prejudices. An individual may be specially suited for a particular
job, but he/his elders/people around him may be having an unfavourable opinion
of the career.
(c) Large population size. This does not permit the society to pay attention to
needs, including genetic needs, of individuals.
From the above
discussion it is obvious that to control or to minimise the influence of
material inheritance on development of individual career would be a necessary
step in society's efforts to achieve true equality. Our perception of social
niches has also to change. There are a number of trades or jobs, which are not
glamorous from the current standards, but are essential for running the
society. We have to learn taking them this way, and should appreciate the
dignity of labour. Haldane (1949) pointed to the need of "tolerance of
those who fail to conform to standards which may be culturally desirable but
not essential for functioning of the society". If a society were made up
only of faithful copies of the most cultured members of the present society,
such a society will not only be drab but also incapable of functioning and
surviving. For negating/reducing the effect of all the three constraints to
achieving true social equality, educated thinking is a prerequisite. Equality
in education is another but relevant problem.
Equality in
Education
Pupils in a
class vary as much among themselves as members of any population. It follows,
therefore that identical teaching to all would not mean equality. Teaching
should vary in rate and contents from pupil to pupil. When all are to be
educated, impracticability of this situation is obvious. However, a situation
close to this may be achieved by dividing students of a class, as per their
learning capacity and aptitude, into batches, and the teacher paying attention
separately to the batches. In doing this size/density of population will be a
major constraint.
Mayr (1963),
referring to the present common policy of the same education to all, says,
".... the free spirits of young men and women should not be shackled by
leveling restrictions of a false identicism".
The foregoing
discussion clearly brings out two prime needs for social improvement, one to
develop general awareness to the facts of life, and two to control population
size. At the same time it should be realized that all well directed efforts to
achieve equality will only lead to less of inequality, a situation
sociologically more desirable than the present disparity. Another desirable
situation would be to have room for a fair amount of competition in the
society.
6.
WAR - A BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
What is
war?
In biological
terms war may be defined as an organized conflict between two groups of
individuals belonging to the same species. It is almost a human innovation.
The famous
biologist-philosopher Julian Huxley (1959) pointed out that in the animal
kingdom war was an extremely rare phenomenon, found only in the human species
and in certain ants, called the harvester ants. These ants live in arid areas,
and are in the habit of collecting in their nests grass seeds as provision for
future use. Often inhabitants of one nest launch an organised attack on another
nest of the same species to snatch away the stored food. Usually this leads to
heavy casualties on either side. It is interesting to note that both in Man and
in the harvester ants one of the factors leading to war is amassing of wealth
or property. No other species shows true war.
It is
important to realize that the two groups, involved in war, are of the same
biological species. Among animals often there are group conflicts, but the two
groups, involved in the conflict, belong to distinct species. Worker ants, from
a colony of Formica sanguinea, may at times attack a colony of Formica fusca to
catch the fusca workers and bring them into their own colony as
"slaves". There is a conflict between the attackers and the attacked.
This case is analogous to war, but cannot be called a war, as the conflicting
groups are not conspecific. Another analogous situation: a pack of wolves
attacking a herd of deer.
Is war a
biological need?
Animals,
including humans, have an instinct for aggression. This instinct leads to
fighting between individuals of the same species for food, mate or territory.
It finds expression in wars in the human species. The instinct is useful, as it
produces struggle, helps selection and thus leads to better adaptation of the
population to the existing environment.
Lorenz (1970),
the author of the well known book, "On Aggression", in his long essay
"On killing members of one's own species", describes two different
situations for expression of the aggression instinct. Situation number 1: the
individuals of a species do not live in groups, i.e. they are not gregarious or
social. In such a species the instinct of aggression finds uninhibited
expression, and often leads to death of the loser in the conflict. On the other
hand, if a species is gregarious or social, the instinct of aggression is
counter-balanced or moderated by an inhibitory instinct, the instinct of
species or race preservation (situation number 2).
Let us see a
few example of the situation number 1. Pike is a fish with solitary habits. A
large pike eats up a small member of its own species. Lorenz (1970) says that
once he came across a pike within a pike within a pike. Some fishes are
prolific breeders. In such a species, if some members get killed, it does not
mean a serious threat to the continued existence of the species, and an adult
often eats up, along with small fish, young ones of its own species.
Now let us
turn to the situation number 2. In most species of bony fishes living is gregarious,
and within species fight is a much milder affair. Such fight mostly involves
threatening and intimidation techniques. Fins and gills may be extended, and
broad side may be presented to the rival. Side way push, a stroke with the tail
and such other non-damaging and intimidating methods are used. Lorenz (1970)
cites specially the case of small bony fishes called cichlids, which are very
efficient predators, and have fierce fighting habits. They would attack and eat
up anything alive, but not members of their own species. They take good care of
their young ones. There is often fierce fight among members of the same cichlid
species, but the losing contestant does not get killed. Role of the species
survival instinct is obvious.
A particularly
good illustrative instance of the self preservation instinct we saw in one of
the TV serials of the National Geographic Society. This one was on the African
lions. When a prey had been killed by the mother lion, all the cubs shared the
prey, and in the process each would try to get as large a share as possible. In
the ensuing struggle, which was quite fierce, a cub may try to grab rival's
neck between its jaws, but would not actually bite. No cub would be killed. The
gravest injury, caused by all the use of teeth and claws, would be a few
scratches, and a few drops of blood trickling out of them. Here is an obvious
case of intraspecific struggle with some cubs getting more food than others,
and an equally obvious moderation role played by the species survival instinct.
Man, with his
highly developed social pattern of life, has both, the instinct of aggression
as well as the instinct of self preservation or species survival. Individual
quarrels and wars are expression of the former instinct, and all the
philanthropy of the latter. Lorenz (1970) points out that Man is most hesitant
to kill those forms life, which are most like him-self. While he does not feel
much of hesitation in crushing an insect, he will feel a lot of repulsion to
killing and dismembering a rabbit. A butcher, to attain his livelihood, learns
to overcome the hesitation and repulsion. Role of the instinct for preservation
of the like is readily discernible in these instances.
Man in his
consciousness has developed religions and morals. All religions preach sympathy
and kindness for fellowmen. Lorenz (1970) asks, when we feel pity for another
human individual or take to a kind act, does this attitude or action originate
"in the deepest prehuman layers of our personality or whether it is the
result of our highest ability - the power to reason"? In other words the
question is whether our attitude/action is under influence of a primitive
instinct or due to our conscious and reasoning mind, which has received
religious and moral training. Though one is generally inclined to take such a
behaviour or attitude as a result of religious and moral education, Lorenz
prefers to take the species preservation instinct as an important factor in
determining this attitude, albeit the instinct and religion tend to reinforce each
other's effect. In the opinion of the authors of these lines religions with
their moral codes, during their development, have been guided by the basic
instinct of species survival as well as by the social instincts. That is why
they, however different in their mythologies and rituals, have quite similar
ethical component. In-fact the so called religion-free communism, based on the
concept of equality for all, also has its roots in these instincts.
Then why does
Man kill so ruthlessly during war? According to Lorenz (1970) there is one
situation when the inhibitory effect of the species preservation instinct
totally disappears. According to him, "Any trace of pity disappears
instantly if we are in serious fear of the attacking animal or human".
Agreeing with him we would like to add that war psychology, shaped by teaching
of war ethics and propaganda, narrows the area of allegiance and pity. Now a
man feels oneness with the group he is fighting for, rather than with the
humanity at large. In-fact communication gap and misunderstanding between the
conflicting groups increase so much in extent that to members of one group
those of the other seem to be another species.
Lorenz (1970)
mentions another reason for large scale killing in a modern war. He says that
the instinct for preservation of the like specially makes it-self felt in one
who sees the suffering and hears the cries of a dying man. A warrior fighting
with his sword is more likely to be affected this way than a modern soldier
using his weapon for distance killing. The pilot of a modern fighter plane goes
on pressing switches for releasing bombs and rockets without having their sense
of pity aroused by the sight of killing and destruction they are effecting.
In view of
well developed social organisation, religions and morals, which have come up on
the foundation on the self preservation instinct, wars do not appear a natural
or biological need, though occasional skirmishes, due to communication gap or
uneducated/inadequate leadership, are not unexpected among human follies, and
follies are expected in a relatively instinct free and intelligent species.
Origin of
war
Wars have been
fought since very early days of human history. Even in prehistorical and early
historical paintings, left by primitive Man in caves and rock shelters, war
scenes have been depicted.
A clue to the
origin of war is in the Crowd Theory of human evolution, given by Igor
Achildiyev, the author of book "Power of Prehistory" (Goldman, 1991).
This author has discussed the circumstances, in which Man differentiated from
apes. He has referred to four hypotheses, given by earlier authors, to explain
the circumstances, and has found them all unsatisfactory. Then he has given his
own hypothesis, the Crowd Theory. Out of the earlier hypotheses here we shall
briefly discuss only one, the one which is generally accepted by
anthropologists. This hypothesis may be referred to as "Descent from
trees" hypothesis. It is not doubted now that Man has descended from
primitive apes, which have been forerunners also of the modern apes. Like the
present apes, the ancestral apes were arboreal and brachiating, i.e. moving
from branch to branch by swinging with fore-limbs. Hence their fore-limbs were
prehensile, i.e. capable of holding objects like tree branches. When at the
dawn of the human family the evolving ape descended from trees and took to life
on grass lands, his posture on the ground was semi-erect, as in the present
chimpanzee, In this posture the body is stooping forward, with hind-limbs
carrying out most of locomotion, and the fore-limbs merely touching the ground.
The evolving Man found it advantageous to transfer all locomotion to the
hind-limbs, and to retain fore-limbs for grasping and modifying foreign objects
as weapons and tools. Thus he took to an erect posture, when moving on land.
Achildiyev, as
has been mentioned above, rejected this hypothesis. His main objection: several
other animals also changed from life on trees to that on grass land or savanna,
but they did not evolve into bipedal forms. This objection speaks of his lack
of training in Biology. Infact Achildiyev is a lawyer, who has taken
Philosophical Anthropology as a hobby. Into which form an organism evolves is
determined not only by the demands of the environment, but also by evolutionary
tendencies and potentials of the organism. Though the Crowd Theory of
Achildiyev was intended by the author as an alternative to the "Descent
from trees" hypothesis, it is a supplement to the latter.
According to
the Crowd Theory the period of transition from life on trees to that on savanna
was a period of stress for the evolving Man, as one pattern of life was giving
place to another. Now the evolving Man had to locomote by a new method, face
new kinds of enemies, and had to collect new kinds of food. Achildiyev says,
"...... in any critical situation, whatever its cause, a more or less
large group of individuals is formed acting according to the laws of
imitation". Hence groups or crowds were formed. Bipedalism meant a
disadvantage to the evolving man; as Achildiyev has put it, "... when
anthropoids were only transferring to vertical walk their defensive and
offensive abilities reduced drastically, because it is easier to run on all
fours quicker and less tiresome as muscles of each leg have more time to
rest". It is to be remembered that in a grass covered field the best way
to escape from a predator is to run away fast, and bipedalism is a hindrance in
this. Under these conditions the habit of living in a crowd had a selective
advantage. As the author visualizes, a crowd of early humans, running towards a
predator, shouting and howling, and wielding stones and sticks with their
hands, would be a formidable sight, enough frightening to drive away even the
most dreaded predator. Thus living in crowd continued.
Achildiyev,
however has not been the originator of the Crowd Theory. Several authors
expressed similar views before him. Bates (1963), writing on "Man in
Nature", said, "Man, as solitary individual, is basically helpless,
despite his vaunted intelligence. If we try visualize the life of the human
animal in the Old Stone Age, we realize that only cooperating groups could
catch needed animal food or ward off enemies such as the big cats".
Achildiyev is notable for elaboration of the concept.
Territoriality
is a well established instinct in many animals. Every individual occupies a
well defined territory and actively defends it against conspecific invaders.
Territoriality defense is particularly evident in the breeding season in birds.
Andrewartha (1970), in his book on animal populations, points out that
territoriality is for ensuring adequate resources to the occupants. A territory
may be occupied by single individual, a couple or by a number of individuals.
To illustrate the last situation Andrewartha (1970) mentions the example of the
Australian Magpie, Gymnorhina dorsalis, which lives in the form of 'tribes',
each tribe consisting of 2 to 12 birds. A very large area in Australia,
consisting of several thousand acres, was found divided into a large number of
territories, and each territory was occupied by one tribe of the bird.
In Man the
sense of territoriality is strongly developed, as shown by Ardrey (1967) in his
book "The Territorial Imperative'. Human nationalism and patriotism have
their origin in the territorial instinct.
If
territoriality and crowd living are put to-gether, we may readily visualise the
origin of war. If a territory, occupied by one crowd or group, is invaded by
another group, war would result.
FIG. 6.1:
Warriors on move. Early historical painting on a rock surface, Bhimbetka, near
Bhopal, Central India.
FIG. 6.2:
An artist's attempt to illustrate Achildiyev's Crowd Theory of human evolution.
According to this theory the habit of evolving man of moving about in a crowd
promoted bipedalism.
Does war
help in improving the human species?
An attempt is
sometimes made to prove that wars as biologically meaningful. It is said that
war reduces population pressure, leads to Darwinian selection in favour of
strength and manly virtues. That small scale primitive tribal wars had some
advantages has to be accepted. They led to lessening of population pressure and
to some heritage mixing between otherwise close bred communities. But modern
wars, total wars, as they are called, are gravely disadvantageous to the human
species. The large scale killing of able bodied persons certainly does not lead
to any favourable change. The human species is characterised mainly by its
civilization or culture, which is based on its social memory, and centres of
the social memory are our museums, libraries, institutions of learning and
technical establishments, most of which heavily suffer in wars. Thus wars are
contrary to preservation and development of culture.
War essentially
involves an intraspecific struggle. In a modern war the struggle is so much
exaggerated that the species is too weakened for interspecific struggles, which
are many sided and are significant for survival of the species. For example
insects, with their remarkable reproductive potential and also well marked
capacity to develop resistance to insecticides, and microorganisms, often
developing resistance to antibiotics and ever emerging in new disease forms,
are severe challenges to the human species.
War and
human group organisation
Any functional
group of human individuals presents a certain uniform organisation, which has
been candidly brought out by Berne (1973). He illustrates this organisation by
taking a simple example, which is being discussed below.
One Mr. X
claims to have some supernatural powers and ability to communicate with
"souls". In order to demonstrate his special attributes and impress
people he has invited a small gathering in his drawing room. He is sitting in a
central position with his gadgets. Around him are seated the audience. Mrs. X
and some close family friends are moving about, getting people seated,
maintaining order in the room, looking to the needs and convenience of Mr. X
etc.. Infact they are behaving as go-betweens for Mr. X and the audience. There
are some more friends of Mr.X, who are taking care of external work, such as
distribution of invitation cards, arranging for necessary furniture, guarding
at the periphery so that there are no undesirable intruders etc..
Now let us
analyse this functional group. Mr. X is obviously the leader of the group,
while the audience are members. In a tribe the tribal head is the leader, while
in a democratic state the legislative body is the leader, i.e. there is
collective leadership. Citizens of a nation are comparable to the audience in
the above described gathering. There is an invisible but definite line of
separation between the leader's position and the audience/citizens area, the
"Major Internal Line". Mrs. X and the family friends, who are
maintaining order and are taking care of the convenience of the audience, and
are also behaving as go-between the leader and the audience/citizens are to be
compared to the home department and the police of a country; they are referred
to as the "Internal Apparatus". The friends helping the group at the
periphery are comparable to the external affairs department, defence services
and the embassies of a nation. They have been called the "External
Apparatus" of the group.
A group, such
as the one described above, may suffer from a number of different kinds of
disturbances. Some members of the audience may challenge the genuineness of the
proceedings and may express skepticism, they may insist on doing so inspite of
efforts on part of the internal apparatus to calm them down (conflict number 1,
see figure 6.3). There may be a conflict among the audience, say, when some are
expressing skepticism, some others are asking them to keep silent and not to
disturb the proceedings (conflict number 2). Some neighbours may approach the
police, reporting to them that black magic is being practiced in their
locality, and demand that it should be stopped. Police may enter the drawing
room of Mr. X and disturb the gathering inspite of resistance from external
apparatus (conflict number 3). Conflict number 1 may be compared with a civil
war in a country, conflict number 2 with gang warfare, and conflict number 3
with a typical war involving foreign invasion.
In all the
three kinds of war two main factors are involved, viz. territoriality and
leadership. In conflict number 3 the territory of group is violated, and
victory of the invaders is not complete unless the leadership is won over. In
gang wars or conflict number 2 two minor leaders, around whom gangs have been formed,
are involved, and also minor membership territories around them. If the
internal apparatus is not able to pacify the conflicting gangs, the gangs may
look to the leadership area for support, and with this the conflict may change
to conflict number 1. Conflict number 1 is obviously a challenge to the leader,
and the leader among the challenging group is the potential leader of the whole
territory in question. Thus the primitive instincts of leadership and
territoriality are involved in all the different kinds of war. Among group
living or gregarious mammals the leadership instinct is generally well marked.
The instinct for territoriality has been discussed earlier.
War of any
kind is obviously undesirable, because it leads to suspension of the normal functioning
of the group, as under condition of war maintaining integrity of group, through
protection of its leader and territory, becomes of paramount importance. In the
above described example Mr. X, on being disturbed by a war-like situation, will
suspend his supernatural demonstration, which is clearly the main function of
the group. Now he and his associates will take steps to restore order in the
gathering. In case of a country, which is a welfare state, on start of a war,
the welfare work will be mostly suspended.
Wars may be
avoided, if leadership is strong and popular in the membership area, and also
if the internal and the external apparatus are adequate to resist any
"misadventurist" forces trying to start a war.
FIG. 6.3:
Diagramatic representation of organisation of afunctional human group, with
nature of human conflicts indicated.Conflict No. 1 - a civil war. Conflict No.
2 - a gang war. Conflict No. 3 - a foreign invasion. (The figure includes some
features of diagrams by Eric Berne.)
Warring
tribes
It is a
general belief that tribal people everywhere have been feroceous and
war-loving. This myth has been broken by Ferguson (1992), who has carried out
researches, along with Neil Whitehead, on history of tribal wars. In his 1992
article he has demonstrated that invasion and activities by colonialists have
created unbalances among tribals, and have been promoting tribal wars. In this
respect tribals have been mostly misrepresented by colonialists, who have tried
to make their adventures more colourful, have wanted to prove their racial
superiority, and have tried to disown the credit (?) of divide and rule.
What should
we do about wars?
Thus war,
which is a human innovation, is not a biological necessity. It can be avoided,
and should be avoided, as it is antagonistic to development of human
civilization and culture. Modern warfare is so extensively destructive that it
is a serious threat to the existence of humans and other species on this
planet.
War is a
compounded expression of instincts of aggression, territoriality and
leadership, and of gregarious/social living. As Julian Huxley has suggested,
the instinct of aggression may be usefully expressed through competitive
sports. If the leader is popular and enjoys support of most of the civilians,
and if internal and external defences are strong enough to repress a
misadventurist, wars should be largely avoided. A collective leadership, chosen
by people, is to be preferred to monarchy or dictatorship, which involves the
risk of a person, with psychological repressions, coming up as a leader and
behaving as (using expression of Huxley, 1959) "a jealous God" or
"an infallible Fuhrer", and creating situations of war. It should be
remembered that colonialism, including neo-colonialism, which amounts to
economic subjugation of smaller nations, promotes war.
Above all,
people have to be educated about the wastefulness of war, and about the urgent
need to conserve resources. The need for global efforts to protect and conserve
environment has been beautifully brought out by US Ambassador Stevenson, who
gave the "Space-ship Earth" concept in his 1966 address before UNESCO
in Geneva (Khozin, 1976). He compared the planet earth with a small
space-craft, which was being shared by people of all nationalities. As in a
small space-craft, resources are limited on the earth, and there is need for
protection, conservation and recycling of the resources, which can be achieved
only through international cooperation. The concept brings out the need to make
our nationalism compatible with internationalism. Shall we go international
without violating the feelings of territoriality and leadership ? There are
ways to achieve it. As Taylor (1974), discussing Canadian nationalism and
internationalism, points out that the way to solve gobal environmental problems
is to form a supranational tier of sociopolitical organisations. Such
organisations are being formed, and they are getting some degree of success
also. Ross (1974) has described the various steps taken and the various commissions/bodies
formed by Canada and USA to solve their mutual problems, chiefly concerning
common rivers and lakes. Many other countries too are frequently arranging
meetings of their representatives to settle bilateral and multilateral issues.
SARC, British Commonwealth, European Economic Community etc. are bodies, which
have proven quite viable and have served to solve many problems. With spread of
such international efforts, and such efforts becoming more rational, less
instinctive and free from colonialists'/neocolonialists' tendencies, wars
should become a thing of the past.
7.
NATIONALISM AND INTERNATIONALISM
What is
nationalism?
Nationalism is
the concern one feels for the nation-state, of which he is a citizen, concern for
nation's security, integrity, development and prestige. Nationalism comes to a
person easily and naturally. Tell an illiterate and poorly informed villager
that a part of his nation's territory has been invaded and occupied by forces
of another nation, his immediate response would be that of anger and pain. On
being told that his nation's hockey team has won a match with another nation's
team, he will express satisfaction and happiness. Such responses do not require
any education or indoctrination in nationalism.
Nationalistic
responses, mentioned above, lend support to the view that nationalism is only
an expression of the primitive animal instinct of territoriality. This
instinct, including group territoriality, has been discussed in Essay 6.
Erosion of
nationalism
As Roy (1996)
has pointed out, a number of changes in society have been eroding nationalism
"both from above and below". Such changes as development of efficient
and very fast means of communication and travel, of global media like satellite
T.V. and internet, spread of multinational commercial giants, and formation of
trasnational groups for cultural, political and trade purposes, for example the
European Economic Community, SARC, the British Commonwealth compel people to
think internationally, that is the upper limit of nationalism. On the other
hand in ever increasing crowds (due to population explosion, urban growth and
industrialisation) people try to search for their identity by asking for
autonomy in the name of language, region, religion and ethnic group. Infact the
way religious fundamentalism is raising its head now is surprising. Such
tendencies are resulting in narrow nationalism, and nations breaking up into
smaller nations. Roy (1996) points out that in 1989 there were nine nation-states
in communist Europe, and now there are 27 nation-states. Canada recently came
quite close to breaking up into French and English speaking parts. The story of
the former Yugoslavia is well known. Some have expressed the fear that India
also is about to break up into smaller nations.
Nationalism
vs. internationalism
Erosion at the
upper end of nationalism blurs the boundary between nationalism and
internationalism. One extreme we can theoretically visualise is removal of all
political nation-state boundaries and the resultant one-nation-world. But, as
can be readily realized, this is not feasible. Every geographical area has its
own local problems and assets, and they have to be managed locally. Besides a
healthy and "civilized" competition among nation-states is a stimulus
to progress.
But
nationalism, as it is, has some obvious demerits. Rivalry between two nations
may become so deep and chronic that it may take on pathological proportions.
The game of cricket between Pakistan and India has reached this stage. If
Pakistan loses a cricket match playing against India, it is catastrophe in that
country. If India wins against Pakistan, even the Indian Parliament
congratulates the Indian team, something not given if the win is against
another country, say Australia. When relations are such between two countries,
war is a grave possibility. As discussed in Essay 6, wars at present are so
destructive that we should do all possible to avoid them.
There is
another negative feature of nationalism. A large and well developed
nation-state may start behaving as a "big brother". With rapid
industrialisation and high material standards of its people, USA has nearly
exhausted its natural resources. Now it has started suggesting coordinated
exploitation of minerals and oil in the North America, including Canada.
Canadians are naturally worried, as they are about to lose their natural
resources. Describing this situation Taylor (1976) painfully said, "There
is a widely-held belief in Canada that what the United States wants, the United
States gets". In this context he pointed out, "At present time, the
United States comprising some six percent of world's population, is consuming
upwards of half the planet's resources - to a large degree through its control
of vast deposits of minerals and fuels all over the world - while contributing
close to half of the pollution".
What should
we do about nationalism?
We consider it
is neither wise nor feasible to do away with nationalism and national
boundaries. It is also true that nationalism, as it is, often takes us close to
war. Then what should we do about nationalism ?
Obviously, in
view of new needs and circumstances, it should be "educated
nationalism", and not primitive and raw nationalism. People should be
educated on the following points.
(a) At least
the better informed amongst the citizens should have the feeling of world
citizenship. People of another nation-state should not appear such strangers
that they seem to be another species. Such extreme alienation is conducive to
hostility. Frequent exchange of people among nations, in connection with
commerce, sports, academic and cultural persuits, generates familiarity and
friendliness.
(b) In a
democratic set-up the government of a country reflects thoughts and aspirations
of people. The people should clearly realize that their peace, prosperity and
stability depend on different nations mutually respecting each other's
integrity and sovereignty.
(c) Of late we
have become acutely aware of the large scale damage humans have unwittingly
inflicted on our environment. Many of the ecological problems are such that
they can be tackled only through international cooperation. Let us see a few
examples.
(i) In the
outer or stratosphere part of the earth's atmosphere is a layer rich in ozone,
which acts as a shield against the ultraviolet (UV) component of the solar
radiation. If most of UV radiation is not cut off by the ozone layer, it will
have a pronounced cancer producing effect and also other undesirable effects on
humans and other organisms. CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) and certain other
compounds, prepared and released in industrial activities, have been depleting
the ozone layer. This problem was considered in 1987 in an international
convention, the Montreal Protocol. The decisions, taken in the convention, were
amended in London in 1990. According to the decisions 15 CFCs and some other
compounds were to be gradually phased out. Observations made in 1994 revealed
that the measures taken under the Montreal Protocol had yielded encouraging
results. It was noted that during 1980s there was a steady 4% increase yearly
in the atmospheric concentration of CFCs. But this rate of increase was found
to have fallen to 2% yearly in 1994 (Cowen, 1994). Studies in Australia in 1994
have led to the inference that by 2030 AD the atmospheric concentration of
ozone destroying substances will return to the 1970s level. The success in
tackling this problem could not have been achieved without taking to
international coordination.
(ii) In the
early part of this century and in earlier times (even in the Biblical period)
locusts caused acute problems. Huge locust swarms were formed at an interval of
3 to 4 years, they covered long distances and ate away nearly all vegetation in
their way. There would be famine in all the countries covered by the swarm.
Locusts breed and swarms are formed in oases in deserts. As the number of
locusts and their population density increase in such a breeding area, the
insects start showing some special structural and behavioural features, and
also a tendency to form a swarm and to migrate. Soon after a swarm leaves. The
most effective and economical way of locust control is to monitor the locust
population in a breeding area, and to reduce the population density by
application of insecticides, when the incipient swarming stage has reached.
Exchange of locust information and coordination among different nation-states
in a desert area are necessary; otherwise the effect of timely application of
control measures in one country may be diluted by lack of similar efforts in
another country in the area. Moreover information about incipient swarm
formation from one country to its neighbour helps the latter to forearm it-self
to fight the possible swarm. By taking to such coordinated efforts the locust
problem had become almost non-existent, but due to frequent skirmishes and
discord among countries in the Middle East and North Africa in recent times,
swarms of the desert locusts have again stared invading the northern part of
the Indian sub-continent.
(iii) With
spread of industrialisation there is increased accumulation of CO2 and other
green house gases, resulting in global warming. This will not only affect
climate and agriculture but will also bring about a reduction in the quantity of
water stored as ice in the polar regions, as a consequence of which some
coastal areas of each continent will become submerged. Through coordinated
efforts of about 1000 scientists from more than 70 countries it has been
inferred that in the next 100 years Earth's temperature will increase between 1
to 3.5 degrees Celsius, and the sea level will increase by 15 to 95 cms. (News
item, 1996). [see Nature 1997 paper, quoted in EJAIB] Global warming will
create new health problems, and there will be additional deaths every year,
though in some quarters these predictions have been doubted (White, 1990; News
item, 1996a). Nevertheless it is wise to study the problem in coordination, so
as to take timely steps to avert a possible catastrophe, as seen in COP3 conference
held in Kyoto in 1997.
(d) It should
be clearly realised that a nation is not a nation just on basis of one
language, religion or race. The necessary binding force for a nation is a
complex called "common cultural heritage", which comes from a long history
of living to-gether. Demanding breaking up of a large nation into several
smaller ones on basis of language, religion or race is neither natural nor
politically wise. Smaller nations have fewer resources, and they fall easy prey
to economic subjugation or neo-colonialism. In a large nation there may be
several religions, languages, or races. But the multiplicity of
religion/language/race adds colour to the national life. Mutual respect and
tolerance should help removing fear of loss of religious/lingual/racial
identity among citizens of a nation with such plurality.
Thus, though
nationalism is quite natural and beneficial to us, there is need to modify and
"educate" nationalism in view of present needs.
8.
HUMANS AND RELIGION
Introduction
In the "Life"
book, "The Epic of Man", it has been pointed out that, "Man,
according to one definition is an animal that prays." It is true that we
are not aware of any other animal species having religion. Thus religion is one
of the characteristics of the human species.
It is also
notable that religion is universal among people. Every human population
practices some sort of religion. Besides, as we shall realize in course of this
discussion, all religions have the same essentials. This situation suggests
that religions are in response to certain universally felt human needs.
Religion -
a big force
Religion is
certainly a very strong force. Swami Vivekanand, speaking on the
"Necessity of Religion" in London, said, "Of all forces that
have worked and are still working to mould the destinies of the human race,
none certainly is more potent than that the manifestation of what we call
religion." Further he said, "It is a well known fact that persons
worshipping the same God, believing in the same religion, have stood by each
other, with much greater strength and constancy, than people of merely the same
descent, or even than brothers."
Besides being
a very strong cohesive force, religion has proven to be a very strong divisive force.
Much of the turmoil and conflict in human history has been due to religion.
Understanding religion, therefore is likely to be beneficial.
In communist
USSR a strong effort was made to create a scientific society with no place for
religion or faith in God. As Schell (1992), in his essay "Moscow's
churches reborn", has pointed out, "He (Stalin) dynamited churches,
lavelled neighbourhoods and razed historic monuments." and further,
"But in 1941, as German armies attacked, Stalin was so desperate to rally
the country against the Nazi invasion that he shamelessly appealed to people's
religious faith. He approved the opening of some 20,000 new churches (in the
entire Soviet Union)." This shows that even in the heyday of the Russian
Communism people's faith in religion and God had not died. In Mao's days
communism in China was not less rigid. Even in those days people derived
strength from faith in a God-like figure. There were reports of patients in
China undergoing major surgery without anaesthesia with Mao's Red Book in hand
and reading it with full faith. With Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika not
only churches have revived and multiplied in a big way in Russia, as Schell
(1992) has described, people in Russia have readily taken to magical and
metaphysical practices, amounting to a primitive religion, much to the chagrin
of Kapitza (1991) and other scientists.
Components,
origin and evolution of religion
A religion is
as complex as the human brain. Every religion has its own proportion of
mysticism and dogma. This part is often misunderstood and misinterpreted. A
comparative study of established and organized religions, however reveals that
each such religion has two essential components, namely ethical and spiritual.
The ethical
part sets out norms of life. It includes mostly "dos and don'ts". It
largely consists of philanthropy and sympathy for needy and poor. A religion
includes mythology and scripture, which generally contain history and also
embody the ethic
al part. The
ethical part may be interpreted as social laws, which are necessary for
maintenance of the social structure and function. Every society, however
primitive, needs such laws. Even social insects seem to have their own laws.
Rodionov and Shabarshov (1986) writing on bees, say, "Naturalists,
scientists and bee-keepers have always been fascinated by the most logical
pattern of honeybees, life, remarkable order in their hive, where everything
seems to be wonderfully thought out and perfected, down to the finest trifles.
There are never any conflicts between the members of the bee community, as if
all of them were guided and governed by some laws accepted once and for all,
though the meaning of these laws is clear only to the bees ...".
The ethical
part is obviously important. B.N. Kohli (1994), writing on religion and
morality, says, "Bereft of its moral content, religion is just a bundle of
inane rituals and dogmas". Further he has pointed out that ethics are much
the same in different religions. In this context he says, "Barring some
insignificant changes ... due to historical or environmental reasons, morality
based on the bed-rock of basic human values of truth, honesty, integrity of
character, compassion and good neighbourliness etc., holds good for all time
and clines. It is thus eternal and universal."
The ethical
part of a religion generally includes notions of "heaven" and
"hell" and of punishment and reward in the "next birth".
Perhaps such notions are dogmas meant to ensure adherence to the social laws,
it is up to personal reflection. We think that, minus these dogmas, the ethical
laws would be as easy to ignore by many of us as any Man made or government
laws.
Now let us
turn to the other essential component of a religion, the spiritual part. This
part, in essence, is concerned with realization and worship of a superpower or
God. About form and abode of God and about rituals involved in worship and
evoking blessings of the superpower, different religions differ widely. But a
study of scriptures of different religions reveals that all religions offer the
concept of God as a support for the fear stricken human mind.
The above
discussion clearly drives home the point that in essentials different organized
and established religions are very similar. Swami Vivekanand observed,
"....whether a religion is taught in the forests and jungles of India or
in Christian land, in essentials all religions are one. This only shows us that
religion is a constitutional necessity of the human mind".
Let us try to
imagine how religion could have evolved. Development of the ethical component
must have been in response to human social needs, which are much the same
everywhere; hence there is a very similar ethical component in different
established religions. Some differences in this component, due to varying
environmental needs, are quite expected. As Swami Vivekanand has put it,
"Though all religions are essentially the same, they must have the
varieties of forms produced by dissimilar circumstances among different
nations."
Discovery of
God has been a consequence of human intelligence. In human evolution instinct
may have become largely replaced by intelligence. Intelligence, while it has
been crucial for development of culture and civilization, is unable to satisfy
the basic instinct for survival, and this we realize in our consciousness,
which it seems has evolved along with intelligence as its corollary. It is
necessary for evaluating a situation in relation to ones-self and for planning
an intelligent action in response. Intelligence does not explain or account for
all that is experienced or observed by the conscious human mind, for example
death, sleep, dreams, natural calamities etc. This situation generates fears.
Socioeconomic situations in the human society also lead to fears. Imagining and
praying a superpower helps humans face the fears.
It is a
property of human mental working to comprehend and explain what we observe or
experience. If we imagine a superpower, not only he is helped in living with
fears but also we are able to offer some sort of explanation for such phenomena
as death, misery, a difficult social or economic phase etc., that is such
phenomena we are not able to explain with intelligence.
Human
obsession with death is obvious. Probably it is human preoccupation with death
which has led to ancestor worship, which is an ingredient of many religions.
The above
explanation for the concept of God amounts to describing it as a working
hypothesis. Here we wish to point to our lack of spiritual training/perception
to qualify us to present the concept with greater conviction or to discredit
those, who fortunately (fortunate because they are better equipped to face the
realities of life) have firmer faith in the concept.
Religions have
shown gradual changes or evolution, from a diffuse and confused state to a more
rational form. The biologist-philosopher Julian Huxley (1959) writing on
religion, has pointed out that early or primitive religions included magical
rites and attributed supernatural power to various objects, inanimate as well
as living. Later the supernatural power was concentrated in gods. Thus
primitive magical religions gave place to theistic religions. Further he
believes that among theistic religions earlier ones spoke of several gods
(polytheism), and later, in a more evolved form, of a single god (monotheism).
Julian Huxley
has ventured to predict the future course of religious evolution. He believes
that with growing rationality the followers of different religions will come to
believe in a common Superpower or God (universal monotheism). Further he has
predicted that with progress in scientific knowledge a superpower will not be
necessary for help of Man, and a rational religion, with no theism, and
comprising most ethical or social laws (social religion), will replace theistic
religions. He has regarded the Russian Communism and the German Nazism as crude
beginning of social religion. Huxley's notions about evolution of religions may
be illustrated as shown in figure 8.1.
That with
growing rationality and enlightenment people, following different religions,
will be led to believe in a common God (universal monotheism) is quite
foreseeable. But we do not quite agree with the suggestion that social religion
will be able to replace theistic religions in foreseeable future. Though our
progress in science has been phenomenal in the recent past and we have been
increasingly more scientific in our thinking, it does not seem likely that man
will be relieved of his fears and insecurity atleast for quite sometime to
come. In fact self generated socio-economic problems and continued damage to
the biosphere, which he is unwittingly causing, are adding to his fear and
insecurity. We have witnessed that hard core communism and Nazism have proven
to be ephemeral phases of extremism.
In view of all
this our social thinkers and leaders should aim at reaching and establishing
universal monotheism.
FIG. 8.1 :
Diagramatic presentation of the views of Julian Huxley on evolution of
religions.
Understanding
Hinduism
Hinduism is an
ancient religion of an ancient people. It encompasses such a bewildering
variety of beliefs and practices that it has been often misunderstood. It has
been sometimes described as "amorphous". However, understanding
Hinduism in a correct and unprejudiced perspective will perhaps help
understanding of religions in general.
There is some
remarkable parallel between human evolution and evolution of Hinduism. Just as
the modern human species (Homo sapiens) has been evolving both culturally as
well as genetically without any further speciation, that is without breaking up
into newer species, Hinduism has been evolving within limits of a broad based
religion, that is without breaking up into newer religions. In an ancient and
evolving population, like our own, we may still find iron age culture surviving
in isolated tribal pockets, on the other hand we have quite advanced computer
age culture in our cities. Similarly within the realm of Hinduism one may find
magical practices and rites, polytheism and also monotheism.
The broad based
Hinduism offers one obvious advantage. Its followers, at whatever stage of
cultural evolution and whatever be their natural aptitude, find a suitable
"niche" for their solace within the realm of the religion. Thus they
are saved from the trauma of religion hopping in search of solace.
It is
important to note that culmination of evolution of the Hindu religion was
reached long back, in the days of creation of the "Vedas", in the
form of "Adwaitvad". According to this concept God or the universal
life force is not in the heaven, but within individual men, women and infact
within every living being, however simple, like a worm. "Adwaitvad"
amounts to monotheism, and, as has been well demonstrated by Swami Vivekanand,
it is in hormony with the well proven concept of organic evolution. (There is
difference of opinion among authorities as to when it was the Vedic Period.
Roughly it was around 1000 BC.)
A religion
should not be static
Religions have
evolved, but generally very slowly, like biological evolution. Usually no
change is noticeable until the hands of time have marked hundreds or even
thousands of years. But a religion, which offers a good support to its
followers and expects spirited following from them, should not remain,
relatively speaking, static, and should readily mould it-self in view of
current social needs. Some churches in England run and maintain old people's
homes, and some Hindu temples in India support hospitals, universities and
colleges. These are some examples of such awareness to existing social needs.
Old rites and
rituals should be retained, as they add colour to social life, and ascribe
identity to the followers of a particular religion. But such rituals and
practices, as have become harmful in the present circumstances, should be given
up. Dhirendra Sharma (1994), writing on environmentally harmful Hindu
practices, has referred to use of wood in cremation. In view of dwindling
forest resources electric cremation should be preferred. Development of solar
crematoria should be still better. Disposal of dead bodies, as such or partly
charred, and of bony remains of cremated bodies into rivers should be stopped,
as our rivers are already badly polluted. Use of "mrigcharma" (=deer
skin) and "vyaghracharma" (=tiger skin) by "sadhus" or
saintly people is another undesirable practice. Special efforts should be made
for garbage disposal and for maintaining cleanliness in places of pilgrimage
and worship.
Perhaps it is
needless to repeat that religion, which is sensitive to new priorities, in view
of changing circumstances, will be more satisfying to and will hold greater
appeal for its followers.
Science and
religion
Often there is
a bad mix-up of science and religion. For example, astrology is included in
Hindu scriptures, and some leading astrologers, regarding astrology as
scientific, desired that it be included in the proceedings of the Indian
Science Congress, and a distinguished astrologer be awarded in the 1993 meet of
the Congress. When organizers of the Congress refused to do so, it led to great
annoyance among astrologers. A very angry rejoinder in this context by Dr. B.
V. Raman was published in "Blitz" in April 1993.
At time
religious writings have been described as scientific. Attempts have been made
to explain facts of science with religious mythology and vice versa. Sometimes
science is blamed for not being able to explain certain phenomena, which
religion is able to account for.
In order to
avoid such misleading mix-up it is necessary to realize the basic difference
between science and religion, and the following under this section is an
attempt in this direction.
Science
represents a certain attitude of mind; it is attitude of enquiry through
analysis and classification of data, collected through observations and
experiments. Observations are made using usual and normal senses, and
inferences are reached through simple logic. Care and objectivity are expected,
when deriving inferences or reaching results, so that the results are
verifiable. Enquiries are made and results are drawn keeping in view what has
already been discovered by earlier workers in the field, so that duplication of
efforts is avoided, and a gradual and continuous growth of our knowledge in the
area of enquiry is made possible. This gradual development and growth of
science leave some areas and patches uncovered. Naturally, therefore there are
many questions, which pertain to such uncovered areas, and thus they cannot be
answered in terms of science. AS Julian Huxley has said "The supernatural
is in part the region of the natural that has not yet been understood, in part
invention of human fantasy, in part unknowable."
It may be
emphasized here that no sixth sense or metaphysical capability is required for
work in a field of science. All that is needed in a scientist is usual senses
and simple reasoning. Anyone with average intelligence and faith in his normal
senses can be trained to become a worker in science. Science is for common
people, and, unlike spiritualism, persons with special attributes/perceptions
since birth, are not needed for its growth. A man of science does not hesitate
to accept that a certain phenomenon or experience is inexplicable in terms of
science, as it stands to-day. In any higher treatise on science it is
frequently pointed out that certain areas or portions have not been adequately
studied so far, and that further efforts are required to shed light on those
areas.
Thus science
is an unpretentious and humble approach to learn about things/forces around us
through normal human capability. The glory, that is ascribed to science, is
partly because of dazzle of technological development based on science and
partly because the common man is not familiar with methods and limitations of
science. It is to share this glory that some such faculties/ approaches that do
not follow the discipline and methods of science, are associated with it. Why
otherwise do some people call their studies or pursuits scientific, though they
have not taken to scientific methodology? Why should astrologers not find it
more satisfying to honour the top ranking astrologers among them in a national
or international astrology convention than to await their turn in a scientific
gathering?
The spiritual
part of a religion is based on supernatural experiences, which are not
everybody's field. People with "extra-sensorial perceptions" are
supposed to be specially gifted. It is said that "yogis", who achieve
high supernatural levels, have special capabilities since birth, and that these
special endowments develop through training under gifted "gurus".
Both science
and religions are efforts to unravel the truth. But approaches in the two are
quite different. At present and for quite sometime to come we should avoid
mix-ups between the two. Sri Aurobindo's school clearly suggests keeping the
spheres of spirituality and science apart, as intrusion of one into the other
will lead to distortion and perversion (Mukherji, 1990).
What should
we do about religion?
A religion,
any religion is a great moral force, and it makes life in a society worth
living. Unfortunately the "rationality", which has been developing
after the Second World War, has made deceit, hypocrisy, double talk and lack of
reliability prevalent, under the garb of "diplomacy",
"politics" and "business acumen", even at the highest
levels in the society. Truth, compassion, reliability and simple logic, even in
politics as taught by Mahatma Gandhi, appear "rural" now.
Leaders of
different religions should rise to the occasion, make their religions more
appealing and useful, and convince people about the need of a religion for a
healthy social life. Revival of general acceptance of religion by the masses
will help revival of a "rural" society, which will be definitely much
less complicated than what we are at present, and more in tune with the basic
instinct of survival and the social instincts. At the same time clear
realization that essentials of all religions are the same and of faith in
universal monotheism might take away much strife and conflict. People then
should be able to concentrate on real problems like declining life supporting
capacity of our planet.
9.
THE FUTURE OF HUMANKIND
Introduction
We hesitate to
regard this essay an attempt in the field of Futurology, as here visualization
of human future is not based on elaborate data and models. At the same time it
seems to fall on the side of Futurology, as it is developed on basis of Biology
and evolutionary history of Man, and thus should not be classified as Astrology.
In a
non-astrological effort to have a glimpse of things to come, the basis is the
present day knowledge and trends, which may be in the field of Economics,
Sociology, Politics or Biology. The basis of present treatment would be
understandably mostly biological.
In a
futurology treatment predictions are flexible and conditional. Statements that
follow about future changes and events are followed by such conditional clauses
as "provided there is no large scale upheavals or nuclear
holocausts".
Man - a great
geological force and a species with consciousness
All organisms
are influenced by the environment and in turn affect their surroundings. Human
influence on the environment is enormous and conspicuous. Through his
agriculture, mining, grazing of live-stock, road construction and making of
dams, discharge of pollutants from factories and automobiles and urbanization
we have vastly changed the landscape and have taken away much of land from
natural ecological succession. Through large scale and mechanized fishing,
through churning of propellers of water-crafts, and by spilling of oils and
other pollutants, seas and oceans have also been affected. Almost all these
changes are harmful to the biosphere, and have led to extinction or near
extinction of a large number of species. Now continued existence of those
species, which are still surviving, as well as our own survival depend upon our
future course of action. Hence humans have been rightly described as a major
geological force. So large is the effect of this force that the natural
biosphere is gradually and largely being replaced by the Man-made world or
"noosphere", a term suggested by Vernadsky (1945) ("noos" -
Greek for human mind).
While Man is a
great geological force, he has been mostly acting contrary to survival of life,
including his own. However, there is a silver lining in the cloud, his
consciousness.
As to the
meaning of consciousness opinions differ. In biological terms it is a corollary
of human intelligence , and makes possible perception and evaluation of one's
own activities. Learning a language and inner talking help consciousness. This
mental attribute of Man may help save the life sustaining capacity of the
planet from further destruction by human activity.
Human
intelligence and Man's quest for truth have led to development of Evolutionary
Biology and Ecology. He knows his own evolutionary history, and has fairly good
understanding of the evolutionary process. It is clear to him now that, though
he is a product of evolution, over which he had no control, now he has emerged
as a huge ecological force, which can control not only his own evolution but
also evolution of other types. As Crow et al (1970) have said, ".....
evolutionary biology has ......shown us the central role that man is destined
to play in evolution from now on - unless of course, he engineers his own
extinction", and also, "the future evolution of the orangutan and the
whooping crane and of most other species will be determined by human decisions
and hardly at all by anything done by the species themselves".
The problem of
future human evolution will be separately discussed in the following sections
of this essay, but discussion so far has hopefully made it clear that the
adverse effects, Man has been inflicting on the Biosphere, may be stopped by
developing "educated" consciousness among masses.
The problem
of population growth
In the recent
past, human population has been showing rapid growth. World population in 1968
was 3.4 billion, and is expected to double itself and become 7.5 billion by the
end of this century (Stern, 1970). Now that we are nearing 2000 AD, we can
appreciate the correctness of this prediction.
The pattern of
growth of human population is well illustrated by the population history of the
Indian subcontinent. As Bates (1963) has described, "The American
sociologist, Kingsley Davis has made a special study of the history of
population on the Indian subcontinent. He concluded that the population at the
time of Chandragupta, in 300 BC, was between 100 to 140 million. Since he
estimated that the population in the year 1600 (AD) was 125 million, it appears
that the population of this great region changed very little during the 2000
years. Rapid population growth did not start in India until about 1850, but in
the next 100 years it more than trebled, reaching 433 million (India and
Pakistan combined) in 1950, with no limit in sight".
At this
juncture let us learn something about population growth pattern among animals.
On entering a new or previously unoccupied habitat an animal may show
sigmoid-shaped (S - shaped) or J-shaped growth pattern (figure 9.1, (a) and
(b)), names of the two patterns indicating the shape of the growth curve. In
the former population size increases for sometime, and then some factors, like
dwindling food supply, crowding induced sterility, increasing frequency of
infection with a pathogen, or some other natural density dependent and
population controlling factors, come into play, and put a check on further population
increase. Beyond this point the population size remains more or less unchanged
and close to the limit defined by such factors. Different density dependent
factors become effective in population repression at different population
densities; in other words the factors differ in their thresholds of
vulnerability for a certain population (Kendeigh, 1975) and they become
effective/operative at different population sizes. The limit shown with broken
line in the figure 9.1, (a) and (b) is decided by the entire gamut of such
factors. Such a limit may be referred to as the carrying capacity of the
environment.
If one or more
of the natural controlling factors fail to produce population repression due to
environmental changes, and if the failing factors happen to be important among
the natural population controlling factors, there will be a rapid population
build up, and the population size will overshoot the carrying capacity limit.
This results in a J-shaped curve. In such a case the controlling factors, which
have their thresholds of vulnerability considerably above the limit, become
operational after the overshoot, and this produces a rapid decline or crash in
the population. Hereafter the population remains close to the limit until some
among major controlling factors fail and there is again an overshoot followed
by a crash.
A J-shaped
curve may also result from the failing controlling factor becoming operational
again. For example, emergence of an insect pest on a field crop is primarily
due to abundance of food available, that is due to the controlling factor
"limited availability of food" failing. With harvest of the crop the
factor becomes effective again in population repression, and crash in pest
population occurs. If a field crop pest feeds on the milky stage of grains,
ripening and hardening of grains will result in cut food supply, and crash will
follow.
If now we
consider the above given data about population history in the Indian
subcontinent, the data obviously suggest a J-like growth form. If it is this
growth pattern, it should necessarily include a crash. It is believed that
improved medical aid and abundance of good nourishment, due to improved
agricultural technology, have been mostly responsible for the overshoot. But
improved agricultural practices can help increased food production to some
extent, and not indefinitely. Similarly improved medical aid and health care
can reduce mortality and increase longevity upto a certain limit. After that
crash through famine, diseases and wars can be well imagined.
The problem of
growing human population is considerably more grave than what appears from the
fore-going discussion. The problem of population growth is specially more
marked in developing countries, e.g. India and other countries of the Indian
subcontinent, China and other Asian developing countries (Stern, 1970). In
these countries most people have long lived in great deprivation with respect
to food, space and clothing, and, now when the economy in these countries is
looking up, these people are striving to achieve better standards of living.
While such changes are sociologically desirable, they do put increased strain
on resources. In view of this Stern (1970) predicted that by the year 2000 AD
the total human population would become two fold of what it was in 1960s, and
at the same time drain on natural resources would increase 3 to 4 fold.
If no strategy
is developed to face the problem of rapid population growth, consequences would
not be desirable. The consequences, as foreseen by Stern (1970), would include
"Hunger, pollution, crime, despoliation of the natural beauty of the
planet, irreversible extermination of countless species of plants and animals,
overlarge, dirty, overcrowded cities with their paradoxical loneliness, continual
erosion of limited natural resources, and the seething unrest which creates the
political instability that leads to international conflict and war.....".
These consequences, though foretold more than 25 years ago, still are looming
large.
The main
strategy to tackle this situation should be population control. But, because of
lack of education among masses, especially in developing countries and due to
sociological, religious and political reasons, the desired level of success in
population control cannot be quickly achieved. Stern, writing in 1970, did not
expect any significant restrain in population growth in the next decade. Now,
more than two decades since, we are still far from achieving the required
restrain. We, therefore have to think of including some more steps in our
strategy in addition to population control.
While
population control through mass education is to be relentlessly pursued by all
state governments and non-governmental organisations, efforts should also be
made for searching out and developing : (a) alternative sources of human
nourishment, (b) alternative sources of energy, and (c) technology for
recycling of waste. While all the three, (a), (b) and (c) are specialised areas
and require long and separate treatment, here we choose to say a few things
about (a). Conventional agriculture can be further improved only to some
extent, and not indefinitely, and, therefore search for alternative sources of
nourishment is needed to make further population growth sustainable till
efforts at containing population growth become substantially effective. That
algae can be a good source of proteins for human consumption is noteworthy.
Stern (1970) points out, "Approximately one acre is required to feed one
man by efficient current agriculture - yet a one square yard tank growing algae
can produce all of his caloric, protein and vitamin needs". Off-shore
culturing of molluscs is another promising area. That Indian scientists are
trying to develop a technique for making a curd-like preparation from leaves of
a number of different plants is another notable effort in this direction. The
Society for Development of Appropriate Technology (SOTEC), a non-governmental
organisation in India, have developed a technique for preparing "leaf
curd" from leaves of 47 plants, the preparation being 30 times more
nutritious than curd from animal milk.
Here it would
be appropriate to point out the need for advances in basic sciences. Developing
countries have been mostly borrowing technologies from developed countries, and
adopting them with some modifications, feeling satisfied about their
technological and scientific progress. But all the three thrust areas, (a), (b)
and (c) require progress in basic sciences, which have to be developed in view
of local needs, resources and preferences.
FIG. 9.1 :
Population growth patterns.
Are Humans
still evolving?
By evolution
is generally meant "speciation", that is formation of new species. In
that meaning the present Man, Homo sapiens is not evolving, and has not
speciated during over 100,000 years of his existence. Mainly technology and
migratory habits have been responsible. The technology makes creation of a
microenvironment around our-selves with favourable and comfortable conditions
possible, and, therefore we can invade different habitats successfully without
evolving adaptations in our own organisation for conditions in those habitats.
For example, clothes, dwellings and heating devices help him in creating a
microenvironment with desired temperature even in the coldest places on the
earth. On the other hand, air conditioners and coolers make it possible to live
even in tropical deserts. His breathing mask and gear permit him spending hours
under water. Moreover, Man, for his survival, does not depend only on the
ecosystem, he lives in, but also exploits, with aid of his technology,
ecosystems far away from him. Bates (1963) points out that people in the United
States gets, "bananas from Honduras, coffee from Brazil, sugar from Cuba,
spices from the Orient, vegetable oils from Africa, olives and wine perhaps
from California but also perhaps from southern Europe." This invasion of
very different ecological niches by Man has been feasible without corresponding
evolutionary changes in his own organisation due to use of artefacts or products
of his technology. Mayr (1950) said, "Man occupies more different
ecological niches than any known animal".
For
speciation, besides development of adaptations through variations and Darwinian
selection, another factor is needed, viz. similar populations, living in
different areas, should remain separated and thus prevented from interbreeding,
that is they remain geographically isolated, long enough to acquire such
differences between their genomes to make them incapable of interbreeding, even
if later they come close to-gether and their geographic isolation breaks down.
Thus now they are in position to evolve independent of each other.
Similar
populations, incapable of interbreeding even when in the same general area, are
regarded as distinct species. This reproductive isolation from similar other
populations is a necessary feature of a biological species.
Man presents a
number of distinct races, but these races are connected through intergrading
populations, and are fully capable of successfully interbreeding and producing
normal and fertile offspring. Hence, even if two populations, e.g. a negroid
population and one from North Europe, look quite different, they cannot be
regarded as distinct species. Man has been evolving into these races without speciation,
because of his restless and migratory habits. Frequent racial intermixing
through migrations took place throughout human history, and no population
remained effectively separated from neighbouring populations long enough to
become genetically so different as to become reproductively isolated.
Development of transport technology has been promoting human migrations.
Evolution,
however is not necessarily speciaton. Evolutionary changes may take place
within limits of a species. Evolution means changes in the average genotype of
a population. It may take place with or without speciation. A specially notable
case of evolution without speciation has been described by Remmert (1980). It
is of forest trees in Europe. Remmert tells, "It is a regular feature of
the leafing-out of woods in spring that certain individual trees are ahead of
the main group and others far behind. In favourable years without late night
frosts, the leaders are genetically at an advantage, because they have the
opportunity for greater production. In years with late frosts they are in
danger of producing nothing at all, for all their buds and leaves are
irreversibly damaged. The extreme individuals also represent genetic reservoirs
upon which the species draws in adjusting to long term changes in climate. As
the growing season shortens or lengthens over centuries, the population can
respond without requiring a single mutation". Thus in this instance the
trees, without speciating any further, may get their average genotype changed
in the direction of early leafing out or late, depending upon shortening or
lengthening of winter in consecutive years due to climatic changes.
Numerous
examples of such intraspecific evolutionary changes in humans may be cited. In
1960s the Time magazine conducted a survey of I.Q. among children born in a US
university campus, and noted that there was literally a burst of I.Q.. Several
children were having I.Q. close to that of Newton. Obviously in the university
environment selection had favoured high I.Q.. But this did not result in
formation of a superintelligent human species, as the population in the
university campus was not isolated from the rest of the US population.
Remmert (1980)
has given this example. People in Central Europe have long been consuming milk
and milk products as main and regular ingredients of their diet. It has not
been so in Asia and Africa. In a Central Europe population only 2 to 10% adults
are not able to digest the milk sugar or lactose (that is they do not have
lactose digesting enzyme in their intestinal secretions), whereas in an Asian
or African population 90 to 98% adults show this deficiency. In such adults, on
consuming milk or a milk product, lactose undergoes fermentation in the
intestine, resulting in intestinal disorders. Some lactose may enter blood,
decomposes uncontrollably there, disturbing acid-base balance in blood and
causing illness.
DNA is the
substance, of which genes are made up. With accumulation of changes or
mutations in genes the complex chemical organisation of genetic material or DNA
changes, and these changes are shown in DNA finger-printing. Cavalli-Sforza of
Stanford University and Kenneth Kidd and Judith Kidd of Yale have studied DNA
finger-prints of a number of populations, living in different parts of the
world, and have come to infer that greater the time of separation between two
populations, as deduced from anthropological studies, the greater the
difference in their DNA profiles (Cavalli-Sforza, 1991). This again speaks of
gradual accumulation of mutations in the genotype and evolution without
speciation.
Smith (1973)
says, ".. man is evolving anyway. That is to say, changes are taking place
in the genetic properties of the human population whether we like it or not
...".
Now that we
know that Man is still evolving and is bound by the same evolutionary laws as
any animal species, that evolution is essentially accumulation of changes or
mutations in the heredity of a population, and that we have fairly good
knowledge of the hereditary mechanism, can we not direct future human evolution
in desired directions? Application of our knowledge of Genetics for bringing
about desired changes in human population has been called eugenics, and that is
what we shall discuss in the next section.
Eugenics
Strictly speaking
eugenics is application of our knowledge of Genetics for amelioration of Man.
But the term is generally more liberally used to cover all measures aimed at
altering human biological capacity. Forced abortions and sterilization under
the name of eugenics in Nazi Germany gave some notoriety to this area of
science application.
Smith (1973)
has broadly classified eugenic measures under two categories, viz. unintended
by-products of current social and legal practices, and the other category of
deliberate eugenic measures. Unintended measures include growing tendency of
marriages between unrelated or distantly related individuals, and long term
imprisonment and capital punishment. Let us consider in brief the eugenic value
of these measures. Most changed or mutant genes are harmful under current
conditions and are recessive, that is capable of expression only when received
both from the paternal as well as maternal sides. When unrelated or distant
individuals marry, chances of the same mutant gene being inherited by the
offspring from both the parents are remote, and thus undesirable expression of
the gene in the progeny is avoided. Capital punishment and long term prison
sentences help curb propagation of the genetic basis, if any, of criminal
tendencies through the following generations.
Eugenic
measures may be classified also as positive and negative. Positive measures are
those which aim at promoting development and frequency of beneficial traits.
Negative Eugenics, on the other hand aims at repairing/replacing harmful genes,
or at totally or partly nullifying the disadvantages resulting from such genes.
An eugenic
step, while it is useful, may entail a genetic disadvantage, that is it may be
dysgenic at the same time. As Smith has put it, "... you rarely get
something for nothing".
As deliberate
eugenic efforts we may have a selectionist approach, a transformist approach or
we may take to biological engineering. First let us consider biological
engineering. It includes use of artifices and techniques to minimize the effect
of undesirable traits, such as use of glasses for correcting myopia and other
defects of vision, and surgical treatment to correct limb deformities resulting
from poliomyelitis and some congenital problems. The usefulness of such measures
cannot be doubted. But they have a dysgenic aspect too. The harmful genes, as
those for myopia, may not be removed by selection, as with help of an
artificial aid the possessors of such genes are not losers in selection and are
able to grow to the reproductive age. Now efforts are being made to develop
techniques to detect congenital defects in the foetus in mother's womb and to
correct them by intrauterine surgery.
A selectionist
approach may be social or biological. A selectionist social eugenic program is
involved in such suggestions as "family allowance to university teachers
and tax on children for all families". But for social reasons only such
suggestions could not be implemented. One may reasonably ask - why not
selection in favour of farm labourers, who are capable of hard manual labour?
If we consider the fine distribution of labour in a human population, we should
infer that best is not to interfere and meddle with human variation.
Perhaps the
only selectionist measure, which has been actually practiced, though without
clear eugenic intentions, is selection of a suitable mate by either sex.
Possibly because of this selectionist approach that Hrdlicka (1929) suggested
that in future general features would become more beautiful (from present
standards).
Deliberate
selectionist measures include artificial insemination and cloning. H.J. Muller,
Julian Huxley and some other leading biologists suggested, in the early part of
this century, use of sperms of specially gifted males to father most of the
next generation for betterment of human population. With development of the
technique for sperm preservation using liquid nitrogen, artificial insemination
is quite feasible now. But there are a number of points of demerit that has
kept us from taking to any large scale experiment with this method; some such
points (mostly as per Smith, 1973) are as follows:
(1) There are
psychological barriers to accepting the child by some parents, who have
volunteered for artificial insemination.
(2) Artificial
insemination is much more feasible with cattle than with Man. With the former
one may proceed with a well defined end in view, for example increased milk
yield. When selection is done with this aim, higher milk production is achieved,
though in the cattle, produced, some undesirable changes may appear, such as
decreased mobility and intelligence. But in Man, even if we are able to define
the goal for selection, appearance of harmful traits in the progeny would not
be acceptable. In the fruit-fly, Drosophila and in several other organisms
selection for certain traits generally leads to a number of harmful traits
concomitantly appearing.
(3) Most
protagonists of the selectionist approach have regarded intellectually advanced
males as specially endowed. Smith has approached the problem of effect of
selection for higher I.Q. statistically, and has inferred that the extent of
success would be only small. Besides, a population, which has taken to this
method, would not remain isolated long from other populations. Hence, whatever
has been gained with difficulty against psychological and social barriers,
would diffuse out.
(4) In a
statistical treatment of the problem of effect of artificial insemination
aiming at higher I.Q. it is assumed that parents have been randomly chosen. But
in practice, when couples are persuaded to take to this method, those, who
agree, are likely to be more intelligent and rational than others. In case of
such couples, therefore artificial insemination would not produce much
improvement.
(5) Cultural
(or environmental) effects play a large role in shaping the abilities and
achievements of a person, whereas in selection through artificial insemination
we concentrate only on genetic inheritance. Smith brings home this point by
citing the example of the classical and Byzantine Greece. The former produced a
number of intellectual giants, but none appeared in the latter. Obviously in
the Byzantine Greece the gene pool was much the same as in the Classical
Greece, but for intellectual achievements, besides the genetic make up, a
suitable social environment is needed.
(6) A child,
resulting from sperm donation from a great man and made aware of his origin (it
will be neither practical nor desirable to keep his biological origin a secret
from him), would be under a great psychological pressure, as people around him
will cherish high expectations from him. This situation could greatly hamper
his development and progress.
(7) Moreover,
this selectionist approach would tend to reduce the variability in a
population, and, as has been pointed out earlier in this section, reduction of
variability in a human population, in view of fine and detailed distribution of
labour, is not desirable.
Cloning means
asexually producing a "carbon copy" or duplicate of an individual.
Method for cloning has been developed for animals keeping in view the following
facts of biology. A cell in the body of an animal has two sets of chromosomes;
every chromosome in one set has its counterpart in the other set. Thus, in a
man's body cell, the nucleus contains 46 chromosomes, that is two sets each of
23 chromosomes. Such a nucleus is called "diploid". Reproductive
cells, ova and sperms are, however "haploid", that is with only one
set of chromosomes, 23 in case of Man. In fertilization a sperm nucleus fuses
with that of the ovum, and, thus, a fertilized egg has a diploid nucleus.
Immediately following this restoring of diploidy developmental changes start in
the egg leading to the formation of a new individual. Such an individual,
produced by the normal sexual method, has one set of chromosomes, and,
therefore one set of genes from the mother, and the other set from the father.
Hence the new individual is not genetically identical with either parent. These
facts suggest that, if in an ovum or egg cell the haploid nucleus is removed
and replaced with a diploid nucleus, which has been taken out from a body cell,
the egg may be induced to develop. The individual, resulting from this
development, will be an identical copy of the donor of the diploid nucleus, as
it will be having the same set of genes as the latter. Thus several identical
copies or clones of a chosen individual may be prepared.
Working on
these principles frogs could be successfully cloned in 1960s. Donors of the
diploid nuclei were frog's embryos. It was difficult to visualise then how
cloning could be achieved in mammals, in whom fertilization as well as
embryonic development take place inside the mother's body.
With
development of "in vitro fertilization" technique or "test tube
baby" technique cloning in mammals became feasible. In this technique eggs
are removed from the mother's body, kept in a petri-dish in a suitable liquid
medium, sperms from a male are added to the medium and thus fertilization is
achieved out-side the mother's body. The fertilized eggs are allowed to develop
to some extent before transplanting them in the womb of the original or
"surrogate" mother. If in this technique the eggs in the petri-dish
are subjected to replacement of the original haploid nucleus with a diploid
nucleus from a body cell, and, after the eggs have shown developmental changes,
they are transferred to the uterus of surrogate mothers, making of clones
should be possible in mammals. In fact following this technique Dr. Ian Wilmut
and his colleagues in the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh could successfully
produce cloned sheep [Reference in Nature]. They had taken diploid nuclei for
transplantation into eggs from embryos of sheep. Their success was announced
early in 1996.
One tempting
possibility with cloning is that we can produce duplicates of a person with
outstanding qualities, say Einstein or Kasparov. But, if the diploid nucleus is
to be taken from an embryonic donor, cloning of a man of achievements cannot be
done, because potentials of an embryo are still unexpressed. Could we not take
the nucleus from a body cell of an adult for this purpose? In early 1997, Ian
Wilmut and his group announced that they could successfully produce a clone
sheep, "Dolly", using the nucleus from an udder cell of an adult
sheep. This experiment has taken us very close to possibility of cloning in Man
and of producing clones of persons with remarkable achievements.
Cloning has an
obvious advantage over artificial insemination. The genetic contribution from
"specially gifted male" (in case of cloning it may be a
"specially gifted female" too!) is not diluted by the contribution
from a "randomly chosen female". As a result the progeny will not
show unexpected undesirable traits, which are due to coming together of certain
recessive genes in two doses, and also due to formation of new genetic
associations. But for this point, that is point (2), all other points of
demerit of artificial insemination, hold for cloning also.
Both
artificial insemination and cloning are proposed selectionist steps of the
nature of positive eugenics. Genetic counselling advises a Rh negative woman to
look for a Rh negative groom, may also be regarded as a selectionist approach,
but is of the nature of negative eugenics. This negative eugenic step, in
contrast with the positive eugenic selectionist methods of artificial
insemination and cloning, is more acceptable and useful, and is being practiced
at present.
Next let us
discuss the transformist approach. This approach involves transformation of or
introducing changes in the genetic mechanism for human benefit. Like the
selectionist approach, the transformist approach could also be negative or
positive, that is for repair/replacement of harmful or disease producing genes
or for introducing genes for such desirable traits as those for high
intelligence or for high artistic ability. While the former approach appears
feasible, the latter neither feasible nor desirable. Genes for some hereditary
diseases could not be identified, and, therefore their replacement/repair is
foreseeable. But genes for such traits as intelligence, good health etc. could
be similarly identified. Moreover, indications are that such desirable traits
are due to large complexes of genes, rather than due mostly to specific loci.
Besides most demerits, enumerated above, to positive selectionist approach,
hold for the positive transformist approach too. Thus feasible transformist
approach consist of replacement/repair of defective or disease producing genes,
or "gene therapy", as it has been called.
As Verma
(1990) has pointed out, there are more than 4000 known inherited disorders, and
for most of them there are no effective therapies. Most suited for gene therapy
are those genetic disorders, which are caused by defect in single genes.
Diseases, caused by malfunctioning of multiple genes or due to loss or addition
of parts or whole of certain chromosomes are unlikely to be covered by gene
therapy in foreseeable future.
In gene
therapy, healthy genes may be introduced theoretically either into germ cells
(=sperms/ova/early embryonic cells), or into somatic cells, that is those cells
which are not going to give rise to sperms or eggs. (It may be noted that the
germ cells give rise to germ and somatic cells of next generation, whereas
somatic cells die out without contributing to the following generation.) So far
gene introduction has been tried only in somatic cells, because such a change
in the genetic mechanism will remain confined to the individual, whose somatic
cells have been given the treatment, and will not be handed over to the
following generations. If germ cells are given a similar treatment, the change
will be for generations to come. The human genome has been shaped through
evolution for lakhs of years, and, a change in it, while helping amelioration
of symptoms of a genetic disorder, may have some undesirable effects too, as it
will be a departure from the long evolving and well balanced genotype. In view
of this only limited risk is taken; the genetic mechanism of only some somatic
cells is manipulated.
Introduction
of a healthy gene into a cell with the corresponding defective gene, has been
imagined for quite sometime. The main hindrance in actually implementing it has
been lack of suitable recombinant DNA techniques. The technique involves use of
certain enzymes, obtained from bacteria, viz. restriction enzymes, which break
up DNA molecules into fragments, and ligases, which splice or rejoin the
fragments into various combinations. Automated cloning of DNA and preparation
of rough computerised DNA maps have also been helpful. A DNA fragment,
including the desired gene may be introduced into a cell using a suitable
vector. The best vector for this purpose has been found to be a retrovirus. Such
a virus is an RNA virus. A strand of RNA constitutes its chromosome, and there
is no DNA in it. When the virus infects a cell of a higher organism, not only
the viral RNA chromosome but also a viral enzyme, reverse transcriptase get
injected into the cell. The enzyme induces formation of DNA against the viral
RNA strand. The DNA gets incorporated in one of the chromosomes of host cell.
Now against this "foreign" DNA new viral RNA strands are synthesized,
using the host enzyme system. In the host cell there are synthesized also viral
core and coat proteins and the enzyme reverse transcriptase, using host's
protein synthesis mechanism. Now virus particles get organised around the viral
RNA strands. Thus the virus breeds it-self with the help of cells of higher
organisms, and in this it "donates" to the host some DNA with its own
genetic information (figure 9.3).
For gene
therapy the middle part of RNA strand of a retrovirus vector can be replaced
with a RNA fragment with the nucleotide sequence of the healthy gene to be
implanted. In the host cell, under influence of the reverse transcriptase, a
DNA strand with the healthy gene is produced. This strand gets incorporated in
a host chromosome. The host cell now starts producing the protein, which it was
not able to produce earlier. Thus the physiological deficiency, resulting from
the defective gene, is got over and remedied. As the viral RNA has lost a
middle portion, which controls formation of viral core and coat proteins, the
viral proteins are not synthesized in the host cell, and, therefore new virus
particles are not formed. This prevents repeated infection of the host cells,
and consequently complications, including cancer induction in the host, are
avoided.
There are
numerous workers in the field of gene therapy. The first case of gene therapy
was for the genetic disease "severe combined immunodeficiency"
(SCID). About 25% of all cases of SCID are due to deficiency of the enzyme
adenosine deaminase (ADA), which is necessary for functioning of the T-cells, a
type of white blood cells. These cells are a very important part of our immune
system. Structure and location of the ADA gene on the chromosome number 20 are
known. The first experiment was done on two young female children in Ohio, USA,
Cynthia and Ashanthi, who had been diagnosed as suffering from SCID due to ADA
deficiency. The team led by Blaese, separated T-cells from blood of the girls,
and cultured them. Specially prepared retrovirus particles, with "ADA
gene", included in their RNA genetic strand, were added to the culture.
The ADA gene got incorporated in the genome of the T-cells in the culture. Such
T-cells were injected into the patients, This treatment brought about marked
improvement in the health of the girls. But as T-cells in blood have limited
life, it was necessary to repeat the treatment periodically. It was thought
that, if the stem cells from the bone marrow could be removed, cultured,
exposed to ADA-gene carrying virus and then injected into the body of the
patient, the cells would somehow find their way back to the bone marrow, and,
as these cells are long lasting and give rise to T-cells, it would be a near
permanent treatment of the disease. Blaese and Anderson did exactly this in
1990 with the two girls, and in 1994 both the girls were doing well, though the
results were not formally published then (Elmer-Dewitt, 1994). The results were
announced in Washington in October 1995 in the journal 'Science'. Both the
girls had developed a strong immune system, and were leading a near normal
life. Both the patients, however were being given doses of a preparation
containing the ADA enzyme as a precaution. (Injections of bovine ADA is the
conventional therapy for this otherwise lethal disease.)
Experiments on
gene therapy for several diseases, using different techniques, on experimental
animals like mice, are being done in a number of different laboratories around
the world.
Among
deliberate eugenic measures the only feasible ones (as shown in the figure 9.4)
have been biological engineering, gene therapy and genetic counselling. It is
notable that all feasible measures are of the nature of negative eugenics.
All negative
eugenic measures have a dysgenic aspect; they allow disadvantageous recessive
genes to accumulate in the population. But for this reason, use of spectacles
and other products of biological engineering, gene therapy and genetic
counselling cannot be done away with. The dysgenic effects are to be tolerated,
as in words of Smith (1973) the undesirable effects are "part of the price
we pay for being civilized". Besides we hope that technological advances
are so rapid that we would be in position to counteract effect of accumulating
recessive genes through use of new technology. Moreover, there is the
possibility that, given time, some of the recessive genes would improve through
mutation.
FIG. 9.2:
Diagram to show effect of gene therapy on a somatic cell and a germ cell. Thick
black lines and arrows indicate cell lineage. "Hollow" lines with
"dots and dashes" denote propagation of genetic changes, introduced
into germ cells in gene therapy, while "hollow" line with only
"dashes" is meant to indicate blindly ending genetic changes,
introduced into a somatic cell.
FIG. 9.3:
Technique for Gene Therapy. (Simplified from Verma, I.M., 1990) (A retrovirus
particle has only a strand of RNA, and no DNA. It also includes an enzyme,
reverse transcriptase, which is not found in cells of higher organisms. When
the virus infects a cell of a higher form, the RNA strand and enzyme molecule
make their way into the host cell. Here, under influence of the viral enzyme, a
strand of DNA is synthesised. This DNA strand contains the same genetic message
as the viral RNA. Somehow the DNA finds its way into the host cell nucleus, and
gets incorporated in one of the host chrmomosomes. Now, with help of host cell
enzymes, the viral DNA starts producing viral RNA and proteins, and from these
new viral particles get organised. In gene therapy the viral proteins producing
part of viral RNA is replaced with an RNA version of the thrapeutic gene. In
the host cell the viral genetic strand has the same fate as the viral strand in
normal viral reproduction, but now in brings about production of the
therapeutic protein, and not viral proteins. Actual technique is more complex
than what appears from this diagram.)
FIG. 9.4:
Eugenic Measures.
What is in
store for us?
From the
foregoing account it is obvious that our future will be largely shaped by our
own activities. Man, with his civilization and technology, has emerged as a
major geological force. But human activities so far have been mostly damaging
to the life sustaining quality of our planet. However, our consciousness allows
us to evaluate our own activities. We have capacity to learn through our
experience, and we diseminate what we have learnt both horizontally within the
generation as well as vertically down the generation series. There is growing
environment consciousness amongst us. This gives us hope for a future not so
bleak.
According to
Toffler (1980) our civilization is now entering the third phase. The first
phase has been agricultural, and the second industrial. The third phase has
been referred to simply as the third wave by Toffler. The author foretells the
following features of the third phase.
(1) There will
be amazing variety of energy sources - hydrogen, solar, geothermal, tidal,
biomass, lightening discharges, advanced nuclear technology, and also energy
sources not yet imagined. Emphasis will be on renewable rather than on
exhaustible sources.
(2)
Information and imagination will play very significant role in technology,
considerably more significant than in the second or the industrial phase.
Computers and computer chips will play a very pronounced role both in
disemination as well as development of imaginative plans.
(3) Technology
will be far more diversified, base being provided by Biology, Genetics,
Electronics, materials science etc.. Outer space and under the sea operations
will be used.
(4) Factories
will not be massive and polluting, as they are at present. They will be much
smaller and more environment friendly. Many factories and offices will be
located in homes.
We are taking
eugenics more seriously now. Negative eugenic measures, like gene therapy,
genetic counselling and biological engineering appear quite practical. But
population control tops our priority list. Smith (1973) said, "Eugenics
can wait, birth control cannot". If we do not effectively control
population growth in a decade or two through spread of "educated"
consciousness, we shall not be able to eliminate from our not so distant future
such population crash phenomena as wars, famine and epidemics.
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