The
theory of evolution is to me, a proven fact and not just a hypothesis. The
evidence is overwhelming. These include fossil evidence, DNA and archaeological
evidence. It is the only hypothesis that explains the diversity of Nature and
its failures and successes, without the need to invoke a “designer”. One of the
reasons some still have difficulty in accepting it is because they fail to
appreciate the enormous time scale of life on Earth. We are talking of billions
of years! There are also misconceptions such as that we arose from chimpanzees
whereas the truth is that we both have a common ancestor only.
The
driving force for evolution is the quest for survival. This ensures that genetic
mutations which enhance the chance of survival are favoured and a species will
progressively become better suited for continued survival. Offspring which are
better equipped will gradually overtake those that are not. This is natural
selection. It is not a “law” that is “obeyed” but pure common sense. All living
beings are constantly exposed to threats and it does not require any sort of
faith to accept that those who are better equipped will survive, and in the
course of billions of years, that is exactly what happened. Better adapted species
emerged and the failures became extinct. In fact, 99.9% of all species that ever
existed on Earth are now extinct. The more recent ones to become extinct (last
10 years) include the Tasmanian wolf, Pinta Tortoise, Baiji Dolphin, Caspian
tiger and the Golden Toad. The closest known animal to Man (Homo sapiens) is the Neanderthal Man (Homo Neanderthalensis) and he became extinct
around 40,000 to 42,000 years ago.
When
it comes to more evolved species such as mammals and birds, other factors came
in to influence evolution. This can be called cultural evolution. Reptiles and
other less evolved species are solitary in nature and just care for themselves
only. Mammals and birds have are more “social” because they have realised that
to be successful as a species, cooperation, caring for other members and developing
a “group mentality” has evolutionary advantages in propagating the species.
Thus the notion of “survival of the fittest” was modified in the sense that in
order to be fit for survival, the needs of other members of the species have to
be taken into account. They don’t have a moral code as such, it is purely
pragmatic. It is reasonable to postulate that these tendencies became
genetically codified and hence transmitted to offspring.
At
this stage, if we take a giant mega leap in how Man developed, we can see that
behaviour traits which are now called “good” arose, and the “bad” ones were not
favoured. At a much higher evolved and cultural level, these behaviours became
entangled with the concept of “morality” driven by Theistic religions as well
as any philosophy that believes in an after-life. There is no doubt that moral
laws could help in the survival process. Discipline was found to be useful and different
ways of obtaining it evolved. One of the most powerful is the emotion of fear.
Fear figures prominently in many religions – fear of retribution,a painful afterlife
wherever it is, and fear is the basis of law enforcement. But human beings
appear to be driven to behave morally not just by these means. While it is true
that many people behave well because of the fear factor, there is overwhelming evidence that humans who are atheists and humans who are not driven by fear of breaking
the law and its consequence, still adopt moral attitudes and behaviour and this
appears to be something that has evolved over thousands if not millions of
years. This kind of moral behaviour is seen in birds and mammals. For example,
rats share food with other favoured rats (their “mate”), wolves defend each
other against grizzly bears, a prairie vole taken out from a cage in which he
shared with another vole and is subjected to banging noises which stresses him
and then is put back on the cage is greeted by his mate who grooms and licks
him to calm him down, elephants are known to help injured or ill members of the
herd, Chimpanzees show a sense of justice and those who deviate from the code
of conduct set by the group is set upon by other members as punishment, vampire
bats who successfully foraged for blood will share with those who were not successful.
For humans,
and most probably for other higher species as well, I believe that two other
factors (related) operate. The first is the desire to experience pleasure and
the second is the desire to avoid discomfort. Indirectly, both these will
enhance chances of survival. For example, the desire to avoid discomfort will
lead to a safer life and thus a longer life through attention to matters of safety.
The desire for pleasure will also, in general, promote a safer life although it
could admittedly have the opposite effect at times. Pleasure often involves
socially “survival” promoting behaviour such as helping others, sharing with
others and caring for others. Like
everything that occurs in Nature, deleterious effects can also occur with the pursuit
of pleasure. There are no ordained laws which govern human beings and just as
some mutations produce less well-equipped species, the pursuit of pleasure and
avoidance of discomfort can act in more than one way but it is my contention
that the nett result of this is towards a better-equipped species for survival.
