When we think of evolution, we usually think in terms of biology. We think of the accumulated biological differences that accrue to a species through a series of generations. This is sometimes characterized as a competition between individuals wherein the winners pass on their superior genes to subsequent generations and the losers become archaeological curiosities. But there is another aspect of evolution that is often ignored. It is the evolution of society.
Britannica says the first documented evolutionary theory was from a French guy named Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who proposed that organisms acquire characteristics from their environments and pass those characteristics down to future generations. Although Lamarck’s theory is no longer generally accepted by biologists, it influenced Charles Darwin who subsequently proposed a theory of evolution through natural selection. Darwin’s theory has been modified significantly over the years, but was the starting point for development of the current widely-accepted evolutionary theory.
Both Darwin and Lamarck wrote about biological evolution, but another form of evolution, societal evolution, follows a path more Lamarckian than Darwinian. Societies adjust to their environments and pass those changes on to future generations. According to History Cooperative, paleontologists believe modern humans (homo sapiens) have existed for about 200,000 years. That is a tiny fraction of the 3.7-billion year estimated age of fossil evidence of life on earth. In that 200,000 years, the human race has grown from a few small tribes living not that differently from the animals around them to the dominant species on earth, inhabiting every continent. While the human race may have evolved a bit biologically during its existence, these changes appear to be trivial. The biggest changes in the human race have been social in nature.
Since we are all supposedly competing with one another to survive, one might wonder how the cooperation necessary to establish societies could have developed. Members of groups of people cooperating together had a much better chance of producing surviving offspring than individuals wandering alone in the wilderness. So people who cooperated would have been more “fit” from an evolutionary standpoint even if they were weaker, uglier, or not as smart. This instinct for cooperation has thus been passed down to the current generations.
History has taught us that we need a balance between cooperation and competition to succeed; neither can do it alone. Individuals within a society both cooperate and compete with one another, sometimes simultaneously. Societies also both cooperate and compete with one another. A society that balances these elements optimally will have an advantage over societies that do not, and will tend to leave more grandchildren to carry on its traditions. I have often heard praise of cooperation and disdain for competition, most often from those desiring to enlist our cooperation in providing them with some competitive advantage. In fact, both cooperation and competition are necessary.
Humans are the story-telling animals. Stories have been the primary way of transmitting culture through the generations. The myths of our forefathers and foremothers were instrumental in teaching the ways of their society to their children. Telling the stories in poetry or song helped to maintain them through the centuries. But songs and poems can change slightly as they are passed from one individual to another. Stories can be reinterpreted. Old stories can be forgotten and new ones invented. Through this process societies could maintain a core of accumulated knowledge from centuries of experience while making adjustments to meet the needs of succeeding generations.
With the invention of writing and paper, followed by the invention of the printing press, the amount of information that could be passed between generations grew tremendously. Traditional stories and poetry were supplanted by newly printed ones, speeding the rate of cultural change. Then came phonographs, movies, radio, television, computers and the internet. We are buried in such an avalanche of information that we avert our eyes from most of it, and ignore most of the rest. The culture is changing so fast that many fear completely losing the traditions of civilization that have formed the core of our successful society. The mythical stories that once passed culture from parent to child are now mainly known to obscure scholars at universities.
But what stories should we pass on to guide our young? Epics of Homer? Shakespearean sonnets? The Declaration of Independence and Constitution? More importantly, who should decide what to pass on? The Department of Education? Movie producers? Parents?
Parents, of course, are responsible for the children they create. But parents and children live within a social structure that will influence the children regardless of what the parents do. Parents can try to shield children from some of the worst influences and try to explain the rest, but the culture will still come through. So we, as members of society, need to think about what messages we want our culture to pass on to future generations.
To start with we can think about what messages we transmit through our behavior. Children are more observant of what they see adults actually doing than they are of what adults tell them to do. If a movie, song, or behavior is not appropriate for children it might not be appropriate for us either. By only patronizing media that provide positive messages while avoiding media with negative ones, we can strengthen positive messages not just for ourselves, but for all of society. By acting responsibly we can pass on positive examples.
Schools are another issue. Schools are an important means by which society teaches its doctrines to children, and government agencies control the schools attended by about 90% of K-12 students. A typical child spends over 15,000 hours in school. Administrators on the federal, state, and local level determine the curriculum with very little input from parents. Some school districts are so large that the parents do not even know the school-board members. The control of education should be in the hands of the parents, where the responsibility lies; how to accomplish this may be the subject of another article.
The fact that we exist today is a testament to the evolutionary success of the cultures of our ancestors. The culture we pass to our descendants will help to define their opportunity for evolutionary success. Telling the right stories to our children is the most effective thing we can do to promote their happiness and the continued success of our nation.