The origin of
life from mere chemistry is shrouded in mystery but that it occurred
rather quickly between five hundred million to a billion years from the
birth of the earth approximately four and a half billion years ago, is
generally accepted. There is an evolutionary tendency for single genes
to be selfish and it took millions of years for the parliament of genes
of a single genome to tame the members to march co-operatively in
disciplined formation across generations.
The
co-operation between different genes was facilitated by the invention of
a cell as the vehicle of their transmission across generations and
guaranteeing that all the genes within that single celled creature were
given their passport to potential immortality. Single cell creatures was
the limit of its repertoire for over a billion years until a leap from
single cell bacterial prokaryote to the merger of two prokaryotes to
form a single cell eukaryote. The taming of two separate genomes
(nuclear and mitochondrial or chloroplast) to act co-operatively took
hundreds of millions of years. Thus it has always been a problem to get
two or more different entities to behave co-operatively.
The next step
in evolution was multicellular organisms. This required that the
products of binary fission of a single cell eukaryote stick together
literally in a serial manner, instead of going their own way like
monozygotic identical mitotic clones. This multi-celled new life form
was still constrained to propagate by the use of the straightjacket of
single cell sperm and ovum forming a zygote that developed into an
offspring. The other cells of the multicellular organism were pacified
to continue co-operation by the knowledge that their privileged
brethren, the gametes bore the identical genes. This could be done
because the early multicellular organisms had not evolved a brain,
individual identity and ego.
The policing
of selfishness, to generate co-operative behavior of individuals and
their genomes required an appeal to the commonality of their genes and
thus kin altruism was fostered. It could be done because all the cells
of a multicellular organism have an identical genome and thus some are
willing to die to assure the survival of the organism. This is why a
human being may sacrifice itself for two sibs or one identical twin
without incurring one’s genes diminution in the current world gene pool.
One shares half one’s genes with a sib from same both parents and all of
them with an identical monozygotic twin or triplet.
In normal sexual reproduction only half of the genes of each individual
parent have a chance of perpetuation to potential immortality and to
make this lottery fair, evolution uses meiosis to counter any selfish
segregation distorting gene from subverting fair play. Gametes are
haploid and have only half the chromosomes of their respective organism.
Half from the sperm of the father combine with half from the mother in
the ovum to reconstitute the normal diploid number in the zygote which
develops via the embryo into an adult. To thwart cheating genes, meiosis
first doubles the chromosomes and halves them twice while encouraging
multiple site recombination. Kin bonding was the first step towards
forming group living in multicellular animals and hence a primitive
society. It is seen in herds, packs, flocks and schools of zebras,
wolves, birds and fish respectively.
A novel and more cohesive form of society was the innovative one of
social insects like ants and bees where reproduction is restricted to a
single queen and thus all females are diploid sisters sharing
three-quarters of all their genes and thus help to raise sisters
preferentially rather than opt to pursue their blocked potential of
having progeny with whom they can only share a lesser amount of half
their genes. This is why some members of a certain ant’s nest sacrifice
themselves for the common good. Some ants serve as motionless
repositories of sweet honey that they regurgitate when nudged by hungry
sisters and soldier ants use their larger body size and bigger jaws to
defend to their death, the entrance of their nest to protect their
sisters. In the social insects the theme is survival of nest or hive
members whose three quarters common genes cement their unity. The result
is a large group of individuals in a given society are programmed
genetically to sacrifice their lives for the survival benefit of their
queen who is the gatekeeper of the bottleneck of their genetic survival.
An interesting fact is that human hands and feet develop as solid stubs
like paddles and fins of early amphibians and fish but the cells between
the digits to be, are ordered by embryonic development proteins to
commit suicide or apoptosis to generate the space between and the
individual manipulating ability of our fingers and toes. They willingly
do so like the soldiers of the Light Brigade for the greater good of the
organism with whom they share completely their genetic identity. In the
case of individuals of a modern human society only a smaller percentage
of genetic makeup is shared so one has to appeal to religion, ethnicity,
language, culture or patriotism to obtain volunteer soldiers or suicide
bombers.
When closely related human groups transformed to larger ethnic and
national enclaves, a new non-physical and non-genetic force of culture
was needed to cement the larger amorphous human mass into a cohesive
force. Initially the goal in those groups was survival but with the
invention of money as a store of value and medium of barter, it became a
source of power and sexual access to females. Soon money and power
ceased to be a means to an end and mutated to become ends in themselves.
A simultaneous development was the stratification of society with
dominant individuals or elite like king and feudal lords. This process
is our evolutionary baggage and dominance hierarchies are seen in almost
all animals who live in groups. Survival and success between competing
groups were still used as a motive for sacrifice of the common man while
the real motives of personal aggrandizement and lust for power, riches
and sexual access of the elite were camouflaged.
Ethnic, linguistic, religious and patriotic appeals were used to goad
the have-nots to sacrifice themselves for the power, glory and
enrichment of the elite.
Color of the skin, physiognomy of the face and hair, language and
irrational beliefs in imagined deities were used to incite internecine
violence for material and status gain. Wops, Wogs, Chinks, Huns, Japs,
Spicks, Gooks, Ragheads, yellow perils, sand niggers, reds and many
other derogatory and dehumanizing epithets were used to generate hate,
animosity and merciless aggression resulting in killing, atrocities and
genocide. For the past few millennia of human history, necessity of
survival, satisfying greed and the sloshing testosterone generated
aggressiveness of the young males and made them willing cannon fodder
for imperial aggression to serve the lust for power , fame and riches of
the manipulating leaders and elite. In US history, decimation of
American Indians, occupation and regime changes in the Caribbean,
Central and South America, annexation of Florida, Hawaii, Texas and half
of Mexico (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and California),
the Spanish American War of warmongers McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt were
all incitement to war by politicians and press barons like Hearst for
their personal greed for power, wealth and fame.
In the earlier era, the Egyptian and Assyrian pharaohs and kings exposed
themselves to personal risk but by the time of Darius, the Shah-en-shah,
he watched safely from his secure high perch as his Immortals met
mortality against the Spartans. Similarly Washington, Hamilton, Marshall
and Monroe fought while Jefferson and Madison sought safety. Bush 41
fought at the behest of his father’s principles while Bush 43 sought
safety with his father’s help. Reagan, Clinton and the current chicken
hawks are the avatars of John Wayne unlike JFK, Carter and David Niven.
The reason America got into WW1 was to ensure repayment of the larger
sums of money lent by financiers like Morgan to the Britain, which got
into WW1 and WW2 to prevent Germany from overtaking its monopoly of
empire. Interested readers should google Marine Major General Smedley
Butler’s words.
This sacrifice of the ignorant and naive youth continued in America till
the Vietnam war by which time the draft had to be abolished as the
disenchanted population had wised up. The increasing alternate means of
affluence and economic opportunities in developed societies and the
improving education and sophistication of the middle class made them
less susceptible to emotional manipulation and risking their lives to
fulfill the grandiose ambitions of the power elite. In America, the
people had rebelled against military draft just as in Rome. The rich and
powerful escaped by educational deferment, going AWOL in the national
guard or escaping to Canada. This required the use of economics as a
behavior modifying agent.
The elected legislators and the executive are so financially dependent
on the rich business class that from the time of Truman who had always
been a stooge of vested interests first as a Senator and then as a
president, the country went on a path of military Keynesianism. The war
profiteers spread their arms factories to all important congressional
districts blackmailing the candidates running for elections to cater to
policies supporting massive defense spending. Other major industrial
sectors carved out their own fiefdoms and puppets in the government
including the dangled carrot of lucrative post-retirement jobs for arms
procurement decision making Pentagon generals. The shameless and morally
depraved losing Congress members used the revolving door to become
lobbyists after they had passed favorable legislation in return for
bribes disguised as campaign contributions and junkets.
The new problem the elite faced was, how to recruit the sacrificial
fodder to prosecute their aggressive world dominating imperial policies.
They slyly used economics. Reagan emasculated the unions and their
bargaining power. Bush Sr. paved the rough road laid down by Reagan all
the way from China to Mexico and Clinton drove the getaway car named
NAFTA and accelerated the de-industrialization of America by further
incorporating the rogue Chinese into the world trading system.
Unthinking Bush Jr. just took orders from his minders and made sure that
the US born children of illegal immigrants with very limited
opportunities were available to be reared as armed forces recruits as
imperial fodder. He also allowed limited participation in the lottery of
death or citizenship to other desperate deprived from other nations by
serving in the US armed forces..
The migration of lower paying service jobs of BPOs and call centers to
India and manufacturing jobs to China and Mexico left fewer livable wage
jobs for high school graduates and dropouts. The ballistic rise in four
year college tuition and the decimation of inner city school public
education created a pool of underclass minority and white high school
dropouts and graduates with no access to suburban jobs due to lack of
transportation and in the case of the non-whites covert racial
discrimination. It is these desperate have-nots who are targeted by
armed forces recruiters to serve as imperial cannon fodder in the wars
waged by the elite to preserve and increase their power, position and
wealth and their dreams of a unipolar world. They and their families
generally don’t protest and die silently with little complaint,
eliminating the fear of Vietnam era protests and their fallout.
Finally, as military clout is all that is left, America has to raise the
dragon of Islamo-fascism and resurrect the specter of a cold war with a
contrived caricature of an increasingly undemocratic Russia to mask its
aim of global nuclear supremacy by an ABM radar and shield in Poland and
the Czech Republic, both paranoid due to prior Soviet domination.
Whether old Europe (France and Germany) will fall for this gambit
remains to be seen. In the meantime the UK, the street dealer or the
pimp for this illicit enterprise tries to lure sundry passing customers
in Europe and the rest of the world. Ethnic appeals to Western white
Anglo-Saxons (including Australia, New Zealand, Canada) and
fear-mongering about Soviet communist domination (Germany, Eastern
Europe and Baltic states) are used to garner their support or at least
silence their opposition. China is bribed by trade and India bullied
into its natural state of submission. The forcibly seduced Japan
provides financial support. It brings a dowry that it feels it owes for
legitimizing its subjugation and violation to a more psychologically
acceptable euphemism of a marriage. This helps its Emperor worshiping
psyche. Thus are the poor willingly lured to become imperial cannon
fodder. They are too naive to fathom the cryptic manipulation by
economic coercion.
In history, Britain did it a few hundred years before by fencing the
commons and depriving agricultural livelihood to fuel the industrial
revolution and subsequent imperial ambitions through wage slavery and
naval impressments. In America, the elected leaders who are totally
dependent on the rich have taken indecency to new depths. To further
obscenely enrich their backers they have indulged in fiscal
irresponsibility by running huge budget deficits to spend money on arms
technology at the cost of cutting and starving social spending. The
deficit of 200+ billion dollars does not include the stealing of
hundreds of billions of dollars from the social security trust fund by
replacing them with worthless IOUs.
To make matters worse, US leaders have been signing free trade
agreements that restrict movement of labor but permit flow of capital to
where labor is cheap and environmental laws non-existent. This allows
businesses and corporations to increase their profits while decimating
the bargaining power of labor. Earlier only blue collar workers were
affected. Later call center and less skilled white collar workers were
deprived of jobs. Now the process is affecting information technology
workers, radiologists, accountants, financial analysts, drug trials,
research chemists and lawyers. This also increases the national trade
deficit turning the US from the largest creditor to the largest debtor
in the world and increases future debt service while limiting future
social spending or economic flexibility.
Even more importantly, it perpetuates an increasing underclass desperate
and willing to enlist in the new volunteer armed forces to facilitate
the military bullying and plundering of the earth’s resources by the
powerful multinationals with the collusion of the local rich in resource
rich and third world countries who worship at the altar of the false god
of the neo-liberal Washington consensus to the detriment of America as
well as the plundered nations of the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Genetic and cultural coercion for the suicide of the naive, be they
cells or individuals now has a new instrument of torture and death, the
economic thumbscrew. Everyone labels evolution as amoral, merciless and
uncaring, there are worse forces which are immoral, cruel and sadistic
in respectable disguise.
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The origin of
life from mere chemistry is shrouded in mystery but that it occurred
rather quickly between five hundred million to a billion years from the
birth of the earth approximately four and a half billion years ago, is
generally accepted. There is an evolutionary tendency for single genes
to be selfish and it took millions of years for the parliament of genes
of a single genome to tame the members to march co-operatively in
disciplined formation across generations. 