Insight into Peter Joseph's thinking.
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thezeitgeistmovement.com
As I will discuss in my new film at length, genetics are controlled by the environment on many levels. In fact evolution itself, over the longest spans of time, is a process of biological/genetic interaction with the environment and only those biological/genetic processes that work in a given environment will survive through natural selection.
There is something called Neural Darwinism. as many might know, three quarters of the human brain develops outside of the womb. We are the only mammal that has this attribute. The great majority of connections that tend to persist for the rest of people's lives happen within the first few years of life. During this time whatever environmental influences are
occurring around this child, from comfort -- to abuse -- starvation, etc. -- are generating a battle of neurological connections and those that fit the logic of the environment will connect. hence Darwinism.
The real effects on the personalities, metabolism and brain development of both Hitler and Gandhi have a strong correlation to both their prenatal and early Years of life. I guarantee you that Hitler had a very interesting childhood...
Just as any language can be learned fluently and easily on average by any race (no genetic determinism), such is culture overall. Hitler had to be culturally indoctrinated into his hatred of other races. Ghandi had to be indoctrinated into his values as well, one way or another- no
to mention his religious affiliation.
A while back, brain scans done on murderers revealed abnormalities of different sections of the prefrontal cortex. this was esteemed as a finding in favor of genetic determinism... it was later found out that those areas were actually forms of brain damage which were not genetic but occurred because of various environmental influences. The same goes for addictions both chemical and psychological( like sex addicts or alcoholics)
Overall, the only attributes of the human form which can modulate human behavior are severe genetic mutations along with severehormonal and neurochemical imbalances. These issues do not cause any type of specific behavior but will amplify different types of behavior.
So, the issue of Ghandi and Hitler is more or less rhetorical, for there is likely no way to test that given the extremity and specifics of both of their upbringings- just as with any human pair. But the general logic of malleability and variety of the human being holds true.
Also, there is a new science called Epigenetics, which, loosely speaking, shows how experience generated traits essentially can exist, even through generations, but do not change the DNA at all. Very interesting
In the end, environment is king and genes are slaves to the environment in an evolutionary sense on multiple levels. In fact, on the largest scale, again - the environment is what decides which genes live and which genes die.
peter joseph |
