Gene and Meme: A Unidirectional Way - Essay Example

For example, Languages are like viruses, which infect brain to brain. The cross-cultural similarity in recognition of universal emotions like anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, or surprise is by some means identical around the world. According to www.pierce.ctc.edu cross-cultural similarity also found for appraisal dimensions like pleasant vs. unpleasant, expected vs. unexpected, fair vs. unfair, etc. When an innate blind baby smile in proper cause the display rule differs by culture and gender but not the smile itself.

Now if we discuss the effect of social and cultural effects over genes then we must know both are influenced by the environment. As a matter of consequence, the people of mountain areas are physically tough while their counterparts who reside in plain land are not so much. Their cultures also differ broadly. The occupational aspects are different, food habits, clothing, medical techniques all are poles apart. So the acceptance with the weather, minerals intake, lactose tolerance all are in a long term revealed as 'adaptation' definitely droved by natural selection.

Nowadays modern medical methods changes antibiotics and parasite resistance that somehow tilt the natural balance and taking contraceptive disturbs natural birth rate. Advance animals already have complex physiological and behavioral regularity. Extension of this regularity ultimately forms the "population approach" or evolution. It may be clarified by the concept of the dominant trend in biological evolution. The 'evolution can undergo by two methods.

It may happen due to (1) "differential fitness of the types in the local environment" or (2) "due to natural selection and "random" variation." Selection could be expressed by the equation: pf = SUMf PFT (Harms William, Cultural Evolution And The Variable Phenotype http://billharms.home.comcast.net ) If the frequency is zero here represented in the population which is impossible by selection alone. So the Random variation is proved to come in 'evolution'.

It follows more Darwin's theory than Lamarckian one. As both evolutions are for betterment than that meme actually persists or gets enhanced all have high genetic fitness. Cultural incest taboos reinforce the genetic advantages of out-breeding. So the marriage-like customs is popular worldwide since the ancient days. The memes make people happier retain more and more days. Just beside it is also been found that meme popularity has no impact upon genetic fitness sometimes.

Some habits that may be silly to stay with us without any social or evolutionary impact. Again some popular memes have low genetic fitness even harmful for the enrichment of genetic mutation. Cigarette smoking, drug use, taking contraceptives, abortion is increasing day by day in spite of their dodgy future impact. Even it is very much essentially related in the field of our contemporary world without tranquility and symbiotic rule of mother nature.

Now it has to discuss in what context Durham found that opposition is rare. He mentioned as 'genes hold culture on a leash. The rationally genetic selection gives birth the primary values like parental care. Maternal solicitude comes from this as a secondary value. So the use of contraceptives and abortion cannot be a persisting option for the human race. Primary and secondary values are congruence units. But when it clashes always a winner is the primary one as it directly comes from genetic permission.

He also points out that increasing the number of nerve cells and bigger brains is a very long-term process and that's why expensive development. So evolution supposes to choose the best all meme as a natural rule. It is had been finalized that when an individual opposes one meme it must go out from the way of advancement of memetic evolution. So it is very much clear that according to Durham social and cultural evolution must follow the route of natural selection and whatever may be the bad meme comes into play in society, nature will lash it out.