Do We Create Our Own Future?

Being selfish has been around for thousands of years and perhaps it is in our genes, but it lies in out hands to control whether we want to continue or stop it from taking over our lives. On page 201, it says, “We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators”. Even the author says that we should take matters into our own hands and fight the genes that make us selfish. Except it is very difficult since we usually think in the first person in our heads. We are concerned about what we think and how things will affect us.

Our decisions are mostly influenced by others, which is called an idea meme. This is when something, an idea for example, is transmitted from one brain to another. If one person says something, like Dalai Lama or in my previous blog; John Lennon, then people can be influenced to change. Except there are also people who influence others negatively, which makes it hard for change. Like everything in life, it has its pros and cons.

According to Dawkins, ‘cultural transmission to genetic transmission’ is a rise to how evolution has been formed. What we have learned in our culture is what our genes are based on. For example, currently the food we eat is very different from just twenty years ago. The current generations bodies are not yet accustomed to it and have some negative effects, but I believe that in twenty years, our bodies will be a lot more used to the food and what it contains.

Therefore, I conclude saying that we can create our own future. The only problem is that most people need to be motivated by people who inspire them. Some of those inspirations give the wrong idea, and cause people to make the wrong decisions. I understand that this blog is extremely biased and I give my opinion on something that maybe somebody else does not believe. Except if we all could find a compromise, there would be less selfishness in the world, and the selfish gene would stop replicating.