For science the relationship between culture and human genetics is a challenge. When it comes to discerning each other, the first is a cause or a consequence of the second, it leads us to a paradox similar to that of the chicken and the egg. Does a “genetic improvement” lead to changes in culture, or on the contrary, are cultural advances that influence the “genetic course” of the human species?
After an extensive review of the literature, according to researchers in a study carried out at the University of Maine and published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B , it is culture that is helping human beings to adapt to their environment and to overcome challenges better and faster than genetics itself.
The main authors of the article, Tim Waring and Zach Wood say in an interview with Science Plus, that “ humans are undergoing a special evolutionary transition in which the importance of culture, such as knowledge, practices and acquired skills, is surpassing the value of genes as the main engine of evolution ”.
But their discoveries do not end there, in their work they affirm that most likely, culture has been driving human evolution in the last millennia through organized human groups. A fact that could suggest that, in the long term, we are experiencing an evolutionary transition in inheritance (from genes to culture) that implies a transition from the genetic individual to the cultural group.
According to Waring and Wood for Science Plus, “ Culture is an underrated factor in human evolution. Like genes, culture helps people adapt to their environment and cope with the challenges of survival and reproduction, and it does so more effectively than genes because knowledge transfer is faster and more flexible than inheritance. genetics”.
In fact, in their study they state that gene transfer occurs only once per generation, while cultural knowledge can be learned quickly and corrected and updated much more frequently. In addition, culture is more flexible than genes, gene transfer is rigid and limited to the genetic information of two parents, while cultural transmission is based on flexible human learning and opens up the possibility of using information from experts far beyond parents.
In an article for the University of Maine, Warning states that “in the very long term, we suggest that humans are evolving from individual genetic organisms to cultural groups that function as superorganisms, similar to ant colonies and hives. The metaphor of ‘society as an organism’ is not so metaphorical after all. This information can help society better understand how people can fit into a well-organized and mutually beneficial system. Take the coronavirus pandemic, for example. An effective national epidemic response program is truly a national and even planetary immune system, therefore we can learn directly how immune systems work to enhance our global response to COVID. “
What do you think of these reflections? Do you also think that we are becoming more and more cultural and less genetic?
References:
science plus. (2021b, June 4). Culture surpasses genetics as the main engine of evolution. europapress.es. https://www.europapress.es/ciencia/ruinas-y-fosiles/noticia-cultura-supera-genetica-motor-principal-evolucion-20210604104036.html
Waring, T. M., & Wood, Z. T. (2021). Long-term gene–culture coevolution and the human evolutionary transition. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1952), 20210538. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0538
