From the Illusory "Selfish Gene" to the Cooperative Character of the Human Genome

Leonardo Boff

11/03/2012

Opinión

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Times of crisis of the system such as we are now experiencing favor a revision of concepts and a desire to project other possible worlds that would make reality what Paulo Freire called "a new viability.”

We know that the current world capitalist system is consumerist, viscerally egotistical and a predator of nature. It is leading humanity to an impasse, because it has created a double injustice: ecological, since it has devastated nature, and social, because it has generated immense social inequality. Simplifying, if only a little, we could say that humanity is divided between the minorities that eat to satiation, and those who are mal-nourished. If we were to expand the type of consumption of rich countries to all of humanity, we would need at least three Earths like the one we have.

The current system purports to find its scientific basis in the research of the British zoologist, Richard Dawkins, who thirty six years ago wrote his famous The Selfish Gene (1976). New genetic biology has shown that the selfish gene is illusory, because genes do not exist in isolation, they constitute a system of interdependencies that form the human genome, which obeys the three basic principles of biology: cooperation, communication and creativity. This is the opposite of the "selfish gene." This is what notable names in biology, such as Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock, Joachim Bauer, Carl Woese, and others, have shown. Bauer asserted that the selfish gene theory of Dawkins «is not founded on empirical data». Or worse, «it serves as bio-psychological justification to legitimize the individualistic and imperial Anglo-Northamerican economic order» (Das kooperative Gen, 2008, p.153).

It follows from this that if we want to find a way of living that is sustainable, and just for all peoples, those who consume the most must drastically reduce their levels of consumption. This will not be accomplished without strong cooperation, solidarity and clear self-restraint.

Let us pause on the latter, self-restraint, because it is one of the hardest to accomplish, given the prevalence of consumerism, which has spread to all social classes. Self-restraint necessarily implies limitations, so as to respect Mother Earth, to protect the collective interest and promote a culture of voluntary simplicity. It is not about not consuming, but about consuming in a restrained way, in solidarity with, and responsible to, our fellow human beings, to the entire community of life, and to future generations, that also must consume.

Restraint, moreover, is a cosmological and ecological principle. The universe developed from two forces that always limit each other: the forces of expansion and the forces of contraction. Without that internal limit, creativity would cease and we would be crushed by contraction. The same principle functions in nature. Bacteria, for example, if they were not mutually limited, and one were to lose all limits, in a very short time it would occupy all the planet, creating dis-equilibrium in the biosphere. Ecosystems guarantee their own sustainability by mutual limitation, allowing all to coexist.

Then, to emerge from the present crisis we need above all to reinforce cooperation of all with all, communication among all cultures and great creativity, to design a new paradigm of civilization. We must bid a definitive good bye to the individualism that excessively expanded the "ego" to the detriment of the "we" that includes not just human beings, but the entire community of life, the Earth and the very universe.

- Leonardo Boff, Theologian / Earthcharter Commission

Free translation from the Spanish sent by Melina Alfaro, done at REFUGIO DEL RIO GRANDE, Texas, EE.UU.

https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/156409