BEATING INSTINCT -JOHN FOLEY In life, sometimes certain genetic traits run their course, and no longer provide a benefit to the species. Evolution is by no means a perfect process, and just because a particular trait was carried on through the process of natural selection at one point does not mean that it is an optimal solution at all points. Often times, it’s not even close, but rather what simply worked, given the conditions at play. Traits that were passed down to future generations, no matter how effective they might have been in the past, often times lose their efficacy in ensuring the propagation of the species in the future. Sometimes, those once beneficial traits may eventually hinder the chances of survival of the species, if left unencumbered in the gene pool.
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A frequently cited example of this is the Irish Elk. A particular characteristic of these creatures, their antler diameter, was a great benefit in mating with females. The males battled for the right to mate with females, and the males with the larger antlers were much more likely to win their battles, and therefore pass their genes down the line. Consequently, as time went on, the average diameter of male antlers got bigger, to a point where they became a liability. A leading theory is that one of the main reasons the Irish Elk went extinct is because their average antler size quickly became so large that it became difficult for the animals to turn their heads quickly in defense, and limited locomotion through woody areas. It is likely that there were other factors that contributed to the species’ extinction, but the point remains; some evolutionary trends are not optimal for long term survival, but are still selected down to future generations, with the right conditions in affect. In this sloppy process called evolution, sometimes traits hang around to the detriment of the species. People have been realizing this for some time now, so there’s nothing groundbreaking here; we’ve got a few problems like that, with our own kind. Just like the diameter of the Irish Elk rack, it seems that some of our current traits that were once beneficial to our survival might now be out of tune with current environmental conditions, and may actually doing damage to our chances of success. The way I see it, we’ve got three major issues that are like this, and I feel they are all potentially detrimental to our survival. The first is our instinct to cast out people that are not like us, and to group together with those that are. The second is the tendency for humans to believe in a higher power, and an afterlife. The third, which I feel is the most jeopardizing to our survival, is our instinct to acquire material things, and to make things ‘better’. These traits developed over extremely long periods of time, and in the first and third cases, were in development well before the dawn of modern humans.