Genetics of Original Sin (26 page)

“Anti-alarmists” often point out that the problem is mainly economic, and many observations show that there exists an inverse relation between economic development and demographic expansion. Let the former rise, and the latter will fall. This may be true, but only to the extent that economic improvement goes together with the increased practice of birth control. Without this control, the rising economic level cannot cause birthrates to fall. One would rather expect the opposite because of concomitant improvements in health care.

Recommended policies may sometimes have unforeseen consequences. China is an example. The “one child per couple”
policy imposed by the Chinese government has resulted in a worrisome decrease in the number of girls relative to the number of boys, a result of prenatal sex determination, allowing the preferential abortion of girls. This outcome has less to do with the policy itself and more with a widespread social prejudice in China, one that encourages families to produce a male heir. This problem is for Chinese society to address and should in no way serve as a pretext to oppose birth control. Note that cynics could point out that a decrease in the number of girls, but not of boys, is likely to favor a reduction of the birthrate.

China's example shows how local customs may affect policies. It will be up to each culture to decide what means should be allowed, encouraged, or, sometimes, even, enforced to attain the desired goal. Unless measures are taken to curb the human birthrate on a worldwide scale, the “population bomb” is bound to explode, with predictably disastrous consequences. The message from Malthus matters more now than ever.

T
wo almost contradictory messages emerge from my analysis of the human circumstance. One says that our downfall, our eventual extinction and that of much of the living world, is inscribed in our genes. The other tells us that we possess the unique power to use reason to escape this fate. Whether “original sin” or “redemption” gains the upper hand is impossible to predict. But, at first glance, the prospects are not encouraging.

There is a major difficulty: we must deal with two sharply different time scales. As human beings, we live within the limits imposed by our own lifespan and that of our relatives. On a personal and family level, or even on the social, economic, and political levels, our unit of time rarely exceeds a decade, often less in politics. On the other hand, the perspectives that should guide our actions are measured in centuries, if not millennia or more. Under those conditions, many of us are tempted to echo the words attributed to the Marquise de Pompadour, the favorite of King Louis XV of France: “Après nous le Déluge.”

Another difficulty likely to discourage even the most convinced and motivated among us is the feeling of our own impotence. What each of us can accomplish as an individual
may appear as of such little import as to seem futile. This is why collective engagement is so critical, why action, under the aegis of political and religious leaders, will be essential.

The situation, however, is far from hopeless, as is made evident by the movement developing around the issue of global warming and climate change. The world is becoming concerned. Measures are being adopted on a national and, even, international level. More impressive, individuals are beginning to act, each in their own little sphere, to economize energy, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and avoid waste—in short, to incur a small amount of personal discomfort for the sake of a distant common good. This is only one example. One could cite many others, showing that individuals, even masses, can be mobilized for constructive effort. If the world's leaders could become more actively involved in the fight for the survival of humanity and the rest of the living world—the one depends on the other—the dangers that threaten the future of our planet can be deflected before it is too late.

Africa; migrations out of; Neanderthals in; prehumans in

AIDS

algae

alimentary tract

allergies

Altamira cave paintings, Spain

American Forestry Association

amino acids

amniotic fluid

amniotic pouch

amphibians

anaerobic forms of life

angiosperms

animal(s): alimentary tract; brains; cells; cloning of; communication; developmental mechanisms; domestic; energy derived from combustion of food; evolution of; homeogenes of; male aggression in; migration from water to land; modification of; multicellular; parent mobility; reproductive strategies; segmented; societies; soft-bodied; specialization in; synthesis by; tool-making skills

annelids

antibiotics

anus

apes

arthropods

artificial selection

Asia

ATP (adenosine triphosphate)

Audubon, John James

Australia

Australopithecus

autotrophes

bacteria; ancient/ancestral; antibiotics and; archaebacteria; cancer-causing; cells; in cells; cloning and; cyanobacteria; as endosymbionts; eubacteria; evolution of; in the evolution of life; extremophiles; free-living; groups; photosynthetic; prokaryotic; thermophilic

behavioral defects

Behe, Michael

Belgium

Benedict XVI, pope

Bergson, Henri

Bible/biblical account; evolution and; Genesis; literal interpretation of; veracity of

Big Bang theory

biocatalysts

biochemical systems

biochemistry

biodiversity

bioenergy

biofuels

biology; developmental; modern; molecular

biosphere

biosynthesis

birds; Darwin's finch

birthrate

blastula

blood: circulation; coagulation

bone marrow

bonobos

brain: cell division and; cells; cerebral cortex; chimpanzee; development; of early humans; epigenetic wiring of; evolution of; ganglia; human; Neanderthal; nerve cells in; rewiring of; structure; synapses.
See also
brain size

brain size; anatomical changes and; bipedalism and; Cro-Magnons; determined by female pelvis; early human beings; evolution and; hominization and; human; intelligence and; mutations affecting size; prehumans

Brunet, Michael

Buddha

cancer; in plants

canonic bases (A, G, C, U)

carbohydrates

carbon dioxide; atmospheric; emissions

Carson, Rachel

catalysts; for metabolism

Catholic Church; creationism and; evolution and; heliocentric view of the universe; history of cruelty and violence; pedophilia scandals; pope; reappraisal of ethical rules

cell(s); asymmetric division; axons; bacteria in; blood; brain; cancer; chemicals produced in; daughter; dedifferentiation; definition of; dendrites; differentiation; diploid; diversity in; division; division of labor and; embryonic; energy extracted by; eukaryotic; female germ (oocytes); fertilized egg; fusion; gametes; genome of; germ; growth and repair; haploid; human; male germ (spermatozoa); meiosis; membranes; metabolism in; molecular construction; morphogenesis of; mother; oxygen delivered to; photosynthetic; primitive; prokaryotic; red blood; renewal; single mother; somatic; stem; totipotential state of; types

central nervous system

Chad

chance and evolution

Changeux, Jean-Pierre

chemical transmitters

chemistry; cosmic; organic; prebiotic

Chernobyl catastrophe

chickens

chimpanzees; brain size; genome; separation from primates

China

chloroplasts

chromosomes; cloning and; diploid and haploid sets; DNA in; doubling of; recombination (crossing over); Y. 
See also
Y Adam

Church of England

cilia

climate change

cloning; engineering; ethical debates surrounding; human; kinds of; reproductive; stem cells and; therapeutic; uses of

Club of Rome

coenzymes

Commoner, Barry

competition; for resources

complementarity

complexity, irreducible

congeners

conifers

consciousness

contraception

convergence

Conway Morris, Simon

Copernicus

Coppens, Ives

creationism; biblical; instant divine creation

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Crick, Francis

Cro-Magnons

crustaceans

CTP (cytidine triphosphate)

cyanobacteria

cytoplasm

Dart, Raymond

Darwin, Charles; on competition for resources; gene mutations and; modern biology and.
See also
evolution; natural selection

Darwin, Erasmus

Dawkins, Richard

Dembski, William

Denton, Michael

deoxyribose

Descartes, René

“designer babies”

development; embryological; evolution and; experimental embryology; homeotic genes and; human; mechanisms of; transcription control and

digestion

digestive pouch

dinosaurs

disease(s); congenital; Creutzfeldt-Jakob; in early human beings; epidemics; genetic mutations and; genetic probability of; mad cow; plant; scurvy; Tay-Sachs

diversity of life

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid); from ancestral bacterium; base pairing; chromosomal; coding; combined with proteins; double-helical structure; genetic information stored in; in germ cells; mitochondrial; molecules; molecules (A, G, C, U); mutations; nuclear; replication; role in heredity; sequences; synthesis of; transfer from RNA.
See also
mitochondrial Eve

dogs

Dolly the cloned sheep

Dubois, Eugene

Dubos, René

early human beings: acquired traits; in Africa; bipedalism in; brain size; manual dexterity; migration out of Africa; predators of; speech capability; survival strategies; tool-making skills.
See also
prehumans

echinoderms

ecology

Edelman, Gerald

education; role of religions in

egg(s): aqueous medium for; diploid and haploid; fertilized; mitochondria of; unfertilized

Ehrlich, Anne

Ehrlich, Paul

embryology, experimental

embryos: destruction of during cloning; development of; human

end-of-the-world scenarios

endosymbiosis

energy: biological transfer of; economization; electricity as; extracted by cells; in food production; human needs for; information and; natural sources of; nuclear; oxidative production of; renewable sources of; from sunlight; supply; transfer; universal energy mediator; for work

environment/environmentalism

enzymes; bacterial; digestive; evolution of; genetic deficiency of; loss of; oxygen and; protein; reactions catalyzed by

epigenetics

ethics: debates surrounding; religions and

eugenics

Eurasia

Europe

evolution; of animals; of bacteria; Bible/biblical account and; biological; of birds and mammals; of blastopores; brain size and; branching structures in; convergence in; cultural; development and; directed; environmental conditions for; of enzymes; genetic drift and; genome and; history of; intelligent design and; of life; micro; mimicry and; ongoing nature of; opposition to; pace of; role of chance in; without selection; self-organization and; sexual reproduction and; supernatural intervention and; of tool-making skills; vertebrate; vitalism and

excretion

extinction: of dinosaurs; of human species; oxygen-induced; of prehumans; of species

extraterrestrial life

eye formation and development

Far East

fats

ferns

fertilization; inside the female body; in vitro (IVF).
See also
egg(s): fertilized

fertilizers

fetus

finalism

fish

fixity of species

flagella

foodstuffs; competition for; metabolism and; organic; planting of crops

fossil fuels

fossils/fossil record; creationism and; lack of; of Neanderthals; Peking man; of prehumans; preservation of; Taung child; “Toumaï” skeletal remains

France

frogs and toads

fruit flies

fruits

fungi; evolution of; multicellular; reproduction; sexual reproduction in; synthesis by

Gaia hypothesis

Galápagos Islands

Galileo

Galton, Sir Francis

gametes

gangrene

Garrod, Sir Archibald

genes; adaptive; brain size and; defects; drifting of; duplication of; elimination of, through natural selection; expression of; eyeless; faults imprinted in; function of; genetic continuity; homeobox of; homeotic; innovation in; insertion technology; interchange; length; manipulation of; master genes; modification of; monogenism; mutations in; number of individuals involved in hominization; phylogenetic history of; polygenism; replication; risk of disease and; sequencing of; single common ancestor; traits governed by; traits imbedded in; traits imprinted in; traits in; transcription; transcription of; tumor-generating; versions of.
See also
mutations

genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

genetic code

genetic determinism

genetic drift

genetic engineering

genome; of cells; chimpanzee; of Cro-Magnons; diversity of life in; evolution and; human; mitochondrial; mutations affecting; of Neanderthals; RNA

genome(s); bases; errors in; of extant organisms; sequencing of

geochemistry

Germany

germination

germ plasm

giraffe

globalization

global warming

glycolytic chains

God/deities

Goodall, Jane

Gould, Stephen Jay

Great Rift Valley; “East Side Story” scenario

greenhouse effect

Green parties

GTP (guanosine triphosphate)

guinea-pigs

Gurdon, John

Haeckel, Ernst

heliocentrism

herbicides

heredity; of acquired characters; artificial selection and; diversity of life and; DNA and; imperfections of; natural selection and; non-Darwinian forms of; role of DNA in; transmission