Consilience (Ch 7-8) Dialogue – D51

Pretty good dialogue, very interesting, and insightful. Dialogues like this make you think we are improving our dialogue skills, respecting our rubrics, and in general terms, progressing as a group. Nice comeback MPCers! Karen stayed for the dialogue, although in the outer circle since she was late.

Here are my notes on the dialogue:

• What are epigenetic rules?
• “They are the algorithms of growth and differentiation that create a fully functioning organism.” p.163
• The role of culture in evolution. Can culture change more rapidly evolution than genes, and how?
• Behaviors predisposed to humans. Color vision, language.
• Is culture the result of these epigenetic traits?
• “Epigenetic rules are prescribed by genes” . p.138 (very important page)
• “Epigenetic rules leave open the potential generation of an immense array of cultural variations and combinations.” P.210 (vip)
• Epigenetic rules as the reptilian brain that along with the mammal brain form the limbic system. This system is what “instinctively” makes us react somehow to different situations. These predisposed behaviors are the epigenetic rules. The main functions of the reptilian brain are survival and reproduction. Usually it tends to do three things to different situations: freeze, defend, or attack. 

• What are the inherited traits?
• Traits for survival and reproduction mainly, the epigenetic rules.
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• What is human nature?
• The relation between genes, epigenetic rules, and institutions.
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•  Are ethics an example of epigenetic rules? How about Rubrics?

• Culture transcends to the mind? Institutions can guide the mind?
• Bert: As long as we take these institutions into our mind, we will remove or modify our primary epigenetic rules.
• Hyperactive kids as obeying their natural epigenetic rules, and institutions can change them (they become more obedient and tame).
• Institutions mutate our epigenetic rules?