/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonyomus No.1703566]

Human culture is a superior sort of DNA. It's passed on much more sloppily, but it can also be consciously changed with little physical effort to be more advantageous and useful to the population.

[sage No.1703597]

>>1703566

I'm going to indulge you and pretend what you are saying isn't bullshit.

Human culture can also evolve to be disadvantageous to the population (natural selection works on memes).

For example take religions. Back in roman times believing in religions was perfectly rational. So which religion to choose, one which says "god is good, so even if you don't believe in him you'll still go to heaven if you're good", or one which says "if you don't believe in this particular god you'll suffer for all eternity".

Obviously the rational solution is to believe in the evil god, because that covers more bases. End result= religions with evil gods win out.

[Anonymous No.1703613]

>>1703566
dawkins was here.
meme styling on you.

[Anonymous No.1703618]

dna is a tool. we should master it to improve ourselves. in the future, humans will be created that will no longer be of the same species. we will be the new neanderthals in comparison.

[Anonyomus No.1703656]

>>1703597
Well, I didn't mean to say that it could -only- become advantageous. Sorry for the failed mention of the other end of things.

As for this being bullshit, it's just a thought that occurred to me, and I wanted to talk it out with y'all, see where it goes. Whether it's correct or not is irrelevant to me.

Shall we break it down into something more simple than religion?

Shelter. I'd say it's instinctual for most creatures to seek shelter. But it is certainly cultural to seek it specifically in a grass hut, specifically in a yurt, specifically in a Victorian manor, etc. You don't assemble a yurt made of canvas, felt, rope, and wood because it's in your bones to collect, create, and combine those objects. You assemble it that way because that's how Dad taught you to. And once your tribe is no longer living out on the steppes, you don't continue assembling yurts of felt and wood; you move into an apartment, and you have no burning desire in your reptile mind that longs to build a yurt whenever you encounter a piece of rope. Culturally, you've moved on.

[Anonymous No.1703671]

>>1703566
Yes. that is why dogs bury their food for no real reason, becaus they are hardwired to. And they won't go much further than that, even if they DO reach their full potential very fast in human terms. Humans have the ability to skip through entire generations worth of knowledge, and that's pretty much why we have schools. I take Scrapheap Challenge as an example. It took a good many years for the first airplane to fly, but it took a few days for a handful of people with the knowledge to surpass that feat.

[Anonyomus No.1703731]

Language and math are other aspects of this that we could talk about. It's pretty clear by now that the "language organ" idea is correct--Humans are predisposed to want to chit chat. But look how easily we can switch from language to language, switch from spoken language to signed language or written language, depending on the need. We are not born with a quill in our fist and a linguistic mental framework that will only function within the bounds of Spanish.

Math/counting? Here, too, is something that comes easily to us. Plenty of us count in base 12 while plenty more count in base 10; both work fine, the only reason people switch to 10 is because it's got the majority vote, and we like to be consistent and mutually intelligible.

>>1703671
Yes, this is the sort of thing I'm thinking of.

[Anonymous No.1703869]

>>1703597

Natural selection doesn't apply to ideologies, however. A stupid idea can survive repeated failures. As long as a Bible or "Communist Manifesto" remains in existence, and someone who can read that language finds it, reads it, and agrees with it, then that ideology will still exist. But a failed species is dead, extinct forever unless a sapient species with sufficient technology can resurrect it.

[Anonymous No.1703905]

>>1703618
When ever you make a cost benefit analysis descision it is DNA programing. Even if you choose to lay in on saturday.
But remeber, genetic engineering is useless as all humans are adapted to their envioronment, so what is successfull in one place, may only be a neich. Kida like killer whales in afrika.

[Anonymous No.1703918]

>>1703869
>A stupid idea can survive repeated failures.
>Bible or "Communist Manifesto"

Which ideas survive is determined simply by how good they are AT SURVIVING. Ideas that tend to get spread around a lot are the ideas that are going to get most common.

[Anonymous No.1703952]

>>1703918
dude neither the hebrew bible or the communist manifesto are stupid.
people are.