<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f3e584c7-8407-f5af-20d7-3b716fa57425"> </span></p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-48694521-891b-c633-0d52-f150d725e201"> </span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>1. Scientist Loren Eiseley saw fruitful science in Genesis (in the exile, not the creation): “The story of Eden is a greater allegory than man has ever </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4SIfLZwwVsQC&pg=PP2&dq=%E2%80%9CThe+Immense+Journey%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2s8jI46vRAhUo_4MKHX0ZA34Q6wEIIzAB#v=snippet&q=%22The%20story%20of%20Eden%20is%20a%20greater%20allegory%20than%20man%20has%20ever%20guessed%22&f=false" target="_blank"><span>guessed</span></a><span>.” It can be read as being about biology begetting morality.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>2. Eiseley described how through natural selection, “good and evil would enter and possess the </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4SIfLZwwVsQC&pg=PP2&dq=%E2%80%9CThe+Immense+Journey%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2s8jI46vRAhUo_4MKHX0ZA34Q6wEIIzAB#v=snippet&q=%22through%20the%20human%20mind%22%20%22good%20and%20evil%20would%20enter%20and%20possess%20the%20world%22&f=false" target="_blank"><span>world</span></a><span>.” He grasped how evolution generated non-genetic ethics. </span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>3. Eiseley contrasted instinctive life versus </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4SIfLZwwVsQC&pg=PP2&dq=%E2%80%9CThe+Immense+Journey%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2s8jI46vRAhUo_4MKHX0ZA34Q6wEIIzAB#v=snippet&q=led%20by%20instinct%20rather%20than%20memory&f=false" target="_blank"><span>social-learning-structured</span></a><span> life. The former needs no meaningful morality, the later uses the logic of forbidden </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_fruit" target="_blank"><span>fruit</span></a><span> (of “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_the_knowledge_of_good_and_evil" target="_blank"><span>Evil</span></a><span>”).</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>4. Updating Eiseley’s case, the “world of </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4SIfLZwwVsQC&pg=PP2&dq=%E2%80%9CThe+Immense+Journey%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2s8jI46vRAhUo_4MKHX0ZA34Q6wEIIzAB#v=snippet&q=%22the%20world%20of%20instinct%20was%20passing%22&f=false" target="_blank"><span>instinct</span></a><span>” is entirely genetically programmed. All traits have fixed genetic scripts, changing only slowly, intergenerationally (phenotypes = subsets of </span><a href="http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/genovspheno_01" target="_blank"><span>genotypes</span></a><span>).</span></p> <p dir="ltr">5. But social non-genetic inheritances radically changed the game; in uniquely <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ONzRalXOtEMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=tacit+and+explicit+knowledge&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi088CZ-brRAhXBBcAKHcPzAsIQ6wEIHTAA#v=snippet&q=%22humans%20differ%20from%20animals%22%20%22unique%20capacity%20to%20absorb%20social%20rules%22%22&f=false" target="_blank">human</a> ways behavioral and cognitive traits weren’t as genetically determined (phenotypes wider than genotypes, see praxotype + <a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/words-as-thinking-tools" target="_blank"><span>cognotype</span></a>).</p> <p dir="ltr"><span>6. Eiseley notes our social transmission-based life strategies need unique adaptive changes (e.g., postnatal brain size trebling, much longer immaturity, persisting parental </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4SIfLZwwVsQC&pg=PP2&dq=%E2%80%9CThe+Immense+Journey%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2s8jI46vRAhUo_4MKHX0ZA34Q6wEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=brain%20treble&f=false" target="_blank"><span>bonds</span></a><span>). </span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>7. We’re born with a first nature that needs second </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/our-first-nature-needs-second-natures" target="_blank"><span>natures</span></a><span>. We inherit our culture’s non-genetic language, tech, and </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/you-are-by-nature-self-deficient" target="_blank"><span>cooperative</span></a><span> survival rules. All adaptable faster (and less </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/prometheus-vs-tragedy-of-the-commons-myth" target="_blank"><span>blindly</span></a><span>) than genes. </span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>8. It’s obvious how tools are adaptive, but languages and cooperation </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/it-is-in-our-nature-to-need-rules" target="_blank"><span>rules</span></a><span> are non-material social tools.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>9. As with tools certain cooperation rules are objectively better, i.e. more productive (see </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/how-paleo-economics-shaped-us-physically-and-morally" target="_blank"><span>paleoeconomics</span></a><span>, game theory = objective </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/moral-sciences-are-back" target="_blank"><span>moral science</span></a><span>).</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>10. That’s the missing link to nature’s moralities—no humanlike creature thrives without received knowledge and rules about “</span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=H9RxCpsBPPsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=leon+kass+wisdom&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiez4nH2azRAhVCRiYKHRKFAxcQ6wEIHTAA#v=snippet&q=%22any%20free%20choice%22%20implies%20%22acting%20on%22%20our%20knowledge%20of%20good%20and%20bad%20better%20and%20worse&f=false" target="_blank"><span>good and bad</span></a><span>” choices. The “sapiens” in homo sapiens means wisdom, i.e. choosing well (from Latin for </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xiIoCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Becoming+Wise&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi56sfIh67RAhVDQyYKHXydD6sQ6wEIHTAA#v=snippet&q=%22intriguing%20connection%22%20sapiens%20%22between%20knowledge%20and%20wisdom%20and%20taste%22&f=false" target="_blank"><span>taste</span></a><span>, judgement). Our key trick is acquiring the wisdom of </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/our-first-nature-needs-second-natures" target="_blank"><span>others</span></a><span>. </span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>11. Though we’re discouraged from thinking this, all thinking requires received </span><a href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=siri+hustvedt+looking+%22all+ideas+are+in+one+way+or+another+received+ideas%22#hl=en&tbm=bks&q=siri+hustvedt++%22all+ideas+are+in+one+way+or+another+received+ideas%22" target="_blank"><span>ideas</span></a><span> (Siri Hustvedt). Cultures failing to transmit knowledge and </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/how-do-we-know-how-to-live" target="_blank"><span>skills</span></a><span> can’t survive. </span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>12. So all humans face Eve’s dilemma—born with behavioral freedom and curiosity into risky environments, with socially punishable received rules. Rousseau’s we’re “born </span><a href="http://pllqt.it/G0W8NY" target="_blank"><span>free</span></a><span>” but everywhere in chains is the human condition incarnate (with inalienable social chains, see “relational </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/the-label-rational-is-being-used-illogically" target="_blank"><span>rationality</span></a><span>”). </span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>13. Harold Bloom notes that the earliest Genesis texts depict humans as </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xDJKaYWzrvwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+book+of+j&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVxZnk7qvRAhUL6IMKHSKDDd0Q6wEIMDAA#v=onepage&q=theomorphic&f=false" target="_blank"><span>theomorphic</span></a><span> (“god-shaped,” in god’s image as moral choosers and creators). Leon Kass </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=H9RxCpsBPPsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=leon+kass+wisdom&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiez4nH2azRAhVCRiYKHRKFAxcQ6wEIHTAA#v=snippet&q=god-like&f=false" target="_blank"><span>agrees</span></a><span>, deeming Eden’s exile a rise, not </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=H9RxCpsBPPsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=leon+kass+wisdom&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiez4nH2azRAhVCRiYKHRKFAxcQ6wEIHTAA#v=snippet&q=%22witnessed%20not%20the%20fall%20but%20the%20rise%20of%20man%22&f=false" target="_blank"><span>a fall</span></a><span>.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>14. Creativity also makes us </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/technomorphic-mental-tools" target="_blank"><span>technomorphic</span></a><span>. Tech has shaped our genes for </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/our-tools-have-changed-our-genes-for-millions-of-years" target="_blank"><span>millions</span></a><span> of years. </span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>15. Human nature enables nature to evade “its own </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4SIfLZwwVsQC&pg=PP2&dq=%E2%80%9CThe+Immense+Journey%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2s8jI46vRAhUo_4MKHX0ZA34Q6wEIIzAB#v=snippet&q=%22nature%20was%20beginning%20to%20evade%20its%20own%20limitations%22&f=false" target="_blank"><span>limitations</span></a><span>.” Unlike nonhuman </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/dna-is-multibillion-year-old-software" target="_blank"><span>life</span></a><span>, human nature’s </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/individualism-human-natures-softwarehttp://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/individualism-human-natures-software"><span>software</span></a><span> permits rapidly updatable (non-genetic) logic.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>16. Our culturally configurable/extendable cooperation-rule processors contrast with Richard Dawkins’s view of our “born </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=o59HDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT25&dq=%22selfish+gene%22+warning+%22little+help+from+biological+nature%22+%22we+are+born+selfish%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2-qWjgK7RAhXG8CYKHTPFDSUQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22selfish%20gene%22%20warning%20%22little%20help%20from%20biological%20nature%22%20%22we%20are%20born%20selfish%22&f=false" target="_blank"><span>selfish</span></a><span>,” cheating-oriented “biological </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=EJeHTt8hW7UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=selfish+gene&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVov3XgK7RAhWMYCYKHbVnD60Q6wEIIzAB#v=snippet&q=%22child%20should%20cheat%22%20%22biological%20nature%22&f=false" target="_blank"><span>nature</span></a><span>.” </span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span>17. Eiseley saw unnaturally selective thinking about evolution as mirroring elite Victorian </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4SIfLZwwVsQC&pg=PP2&dq=%E2%80%9CThe+Immense+Journey%E2%80%9D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2s8jI46vRAhUo_4MKHX0ZA34Q6wEIIzAB#v=snippet&q=%22victorian%20biologists%20intent%20upon%20the%20nature%20of%20the%20animal%20struggle%20for%20existence%22%20%22human%20society%22&f=false" target="_blank"><span>biases</span></a><span>. Dawkins later amplified the same adamantly competition-centric view, but we’re on the eve of grasping how much of life features </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/every-self-gene-must-also-cooperate" target="_blank"><span>cooperation</span></a><span> (every I is a we, </span><a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/each-of-you-is-a-multitude-heres-why" target="_blank"><span>Ed Yong</span></a><span>).</span></p> <p dir="ltr">18. Darwin called unmoral humans “unnatural <a href="http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/darwins-bad-break-how-his-name-is-misused" target="_blank">monsters</a>,” and out of Eden came not only “endless forms most beautiful” but also endless strategies intertwining competition and cooperation.</p> <p dir="ltr"> </p> <p dir="ltr">PS Hat Tip to Ross Andersen aka <a href="https://twitter.com/andersen" target="_blank">@<span class="u-linkComplex-target">andersen</span></a> for tweeting that key Eiseley quote.</p> <p>-- </p> <p><em>Illustration by <a href="http://juliasuits.net/" target="_blank">Julia Suits</a>, </em>The New Yorker<em> cartoonist & author of </em>The Extraordinary Catalog of Peculiar Inventions</p> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> </p>
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