Holistic Darwinism

Holistic Darwinism is not a pants-wetting Creationist theory with a subtle title, but rather a step towards a new paradigm shift in the theory of evolution. The underlying principles of how evolution is coming to be perceived still very much follows Darwinian lines, but looks at the functional relationships between units, rather than the individual units themselves. A.K.A: Holistic Darwinism is the marriage counselling offered towards the dysfunctionally synergistic scientific community. One principle behind it is that no gene is an island; the development of chromosomes may have involved symbiotic processes for instance. Indeed, surprisingly, despite the conservative, rather bland and unimaginative nature of milllions of years of evolution, it is argued that the process is not so simple as we first speculated 200 years ago, before the industrial revolution or the invention of the television and subsequent devolution of Man.

It has actually been surmised by some members of the scientific community that the strong social cooperation between human enclaves is what gave our species the competitive edge, rather than the discreet physical advances of bipedalism, big brains etc.

Holistic Darwinism cold shoulders the topic of selfish genes in isolation to look at the dynamic evolution of living systems in their entireties, alongside the relationships and adaptations that occur as a product of environmental stresses and reproduction. It also focuses on the relatively newly-appreciated importance of symbiogenesis; behavioural, cognitive and social levels as strikes of creativity in evolution, dwarfing Darwin's original focus on mutation and genetic recombination.

In a nutshell, Holistic Darwinism provides a thicker, stronger base of theory to suggest that humans, as with every other species, is strongly concerned with the core drive for a little 'slap and tickle,' that we may spawn more crotch goblins unto the world. Essentially, it provides a better stronghold for biopolitics than the selfish gene focus of neo Darwinism.

The basic message of Holistic Darwinism, this uprising paradigm shift for how we perceive the evolution of our species and the wider hierarchy spanning the planet? We are all animals, and we have the drive to act like it. Economics, politics, their systems, should be approached from a biopolitical/evolutionary standpoint. After spending years focussing on how different each species is, and gradually shifting back to how each species is not, perhaps such a shift in perspective would re-shuffle how our social systems are operated. And about time. The planet and our species is in a bit of a shonky place right now anyway.

Maybe we shouldn't listen to Darwin either. The dude had ten kids with his cousin.


For more reading: Corning, P. 2008. Holistic Darwinism The new evolutionary paradigm and some implications for political science. Politics and the Life Sciences, 27(1):22-54.


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The Flatulence of Meat

George Monbiot has digested some rather alarming figures connecting meat (Christmassy or otherwise) and greenhouse gas emissions (see The Guardian, 2015), surmising that the development of one kilo of meat protein causes more greenhouse gas emission than a passenger on a long-haul flight. As an avid travelling vegetarian myself, thank god I'm no worse than you - too bad my aspirations for self-betterment have about as much resolve as a new year's promise to lose weight, save money and learn a new language. The graphic below shows just how much one kilogram of beef and one kg of lamb gives back to the community. Merry Christmas wider community, may your lives be ever indulgent, may soya never become fashionable, and may red meat continue to be as cheap and healthy as it ever has been.

Sharks, Goblins and Cookiecutter Death Machines

Happy Yuletide internet! There has been an official announcement today of the discovery of a new fluorescent species of shark (see picture below, Edwards 2015), which I also like to think of as a new night light for rich children. It has been dubbed the 'ninja lanternshark,' (latin name Etmopterus benchleyi,after the author of Jaws), and aesthetically it's about as pretty as a troll's armpit, but that's not to say it's not incredibly cool. It contains photophores in it's skin, light-emitting organs glandular in origin that provide it with a luminescence that researcher Vicky Vasquez believes helps it creep up on prey.
                              
So that's one more spooky fish to add to the marine repertoire. The Guardian released an update of the world's best sharks, ranked by 'unusualness,' which I've mimicked here, but I thought I would provide my own descriptions.

5. The Goblin Shark; This, I feel, could be the product of what would happen if you were to drop a blown-out, middle-aged office worker in to the sewers of Futurama. The rather intrusive nose has owns a fantastic electrodetection system known as ampullae of Lorenzini, and it gives me a great sense of satisfaction to be able to say I finally found an animal that looks worse than I feel after a Friday night.

4. The Cookiecutter Shark: Now for some reason these animals aren't the token reps for Duff Goldman. Chiefly because its jaws scrape out great chunks of flesh, leaving 'cookie' craters in the victim. It's not actually a Death Machine, but if you've got a chip on your shoulder from having been chomped, like as not it'll confiscate those too. What is a cookie without chips, after all.

3. Basking Sharks: They Shark hard, they Bask hard. If you're not familiar with John Finnemore's basking shark sketch, educate yourself. These 39-foot long beasts are simple filter feeders, floating around, mouths wide open, waiting for the food to drift right in. A true inspiration for any directionless muppet, seconded only by Hedonismbot.

2. The Wobbegong: Ignoring the fact its name makes it sound like the overlord of the Star-bellied Sneeches, this is a carpet shark, and its title actually means 'shaggy beard.' It looks a BIT like bracket fungi, but these sharks are very sleepy grazers that look like they're walking on their bottom dorsal fins. They also give birth to pups. I have absolutely no comment for this animal, there's a lot of Funny going on.

1. The Megalodon: This guy sounds like the character that would beat up Judge Dredd if he didn't give up his lunch money. Around 30m (98ft) long, their jaws are more than happy to accomodate for humans, although they don't often turn up a high rating on tripadvisor.com.

All images were sourced from: Edwards, J. 2015. Scientists just discovered a weird new shark that glows in the dark, so they officially named it the 'ninja lanternshark.' Independent.

A Little Hawaiian Wisdom

A peer of mine is looking at the economic and environmental viability of offshore wind farms in SIDS (Small Island Developing States), which reminded me a little of a project I did last year on the Hawaiian philosophy of 'malama ka pae ainda' - care for the archipelago. The idea was to utilise the bond between the oceans and culture in order to develop a mutually beneficial existence across the human-environment interface.

SIDS often have extremely limited internal markets, and are environmentally highly vulnerable to climate change, particularly if they depend upon a prolific agricultural/aquaculture sector. As such, SIDS are controlled and dwarfed by the larger terrestrial states or countries. Economies are greatly influenced by tourism, and the states often have to pay higher rates for energy, transport, communication and infrastructure.

The Velondriake tribe in Madagascar now sustainably cultivates sea cucumbers with support from Blue Ventures, migrating from the intensive fishing market driven by incredibly strong stock demands from regions such as China (Mayol, T. 2013). The demands exerted by external terrestrial communities on these SIDS has often been the cause of their degradation, the loss of staple fauna and flora and the Allee effect. 

Perhaps if  the 'malama ka pae 'ainda ' could be adopted worldwide as a means for spatially vast, economically stronger and more demanding regions to approach small island developing states, a positive rapport and social equilibrium would remain more constant across the spectrum of human communities. With this, maybe then the environments within which we live would also become more sustainable, and production would be more sustainably prolific, over a much longer period of time, without the social and economic problems that arise out of environmental degradation and exploitation.  

Mayol, T. 13.06.2013. Farming sea cucumbers in Madagascar…for economic hope and conservation. National Geographic Voices. 

  

Walking on Thin Ice: The Good and The Bad

Our scientists have been monitoring sea ice with satellites since 1979, and it is common knowledge that ice blocks are falling off here there and everywhere - honestly, humanity - what home wreckers. Global warming fuels the melt of the ice that moderates global temperatures and feeds through the circum-polar currents, the jet streams - this is widely accepted as not good. More, it's described as a cycle towards oblivion (Isaacson, 2015), thanks to the positive feedback that occurs as the reduced ice extent reduces the albedo, or reflectivity of the Earth, increasing the absorption of solar rays.

But, swings and roundabouts. Right?

With mass habitat degradation comes extreme stress for the residing animals, no surprises there. According to the NWF, one female polar bear reportedly swam for 9 days with her cub, losing 22% of her original body weight. But hey, at least she worked off her pregnancy fat; what a catch. Swings and roundabouts.

You may or may not know that on the base of polar ice cultures single-celled algae, which supports copepods, who support amphipods like the Eusirus holmi, which feed the fish that feed the birds and whales. Essentially, the engines of the Arctic and Antarctic are melting away, taking the fauna with them. Bright side, at least with no more wales roaming about after they sink to the bottom of the ocean out of starvation, the practice of waling will no longer be a thing. Greenpeace got there in the end. Justice is served. Swings and roundabouts.

 Land naturally sinking and subsiding on the Ganges delta will be even more susceptible to rising sea levels, while the global warming phenomena connects to increasing ENSO, which often causes severe drought (consider the  Bangladesh 2009 event). Perhaps a little more water in/on Bangladesh will actually do some good, water the crops. Can't harm the diving industry either, ask the folk of the Maldives. A little salt in the diet is healthy, ask the Americans. Swings and roundabouts.

Genuine bright side, with the Arctic sea ice melting, the Northwest passage may eventually become navigable all year round, removing an enormous physical barrier to a potentially much faster shipping route, that could also avoid the tax penalty of navigating through Russian borders. Swings.

Three cheers for climate change. My pyjamas have polar bears embellished with glittery scarves on them. The irony is gorgeous.

A Woman's Empire

Photographer Karolin Klupper spent nine months capturing what NatGeo journalist Jeremy Berlin calls an 'inverted world.' What they are both describing is the beautifully lush village of Mawlynnong, home to members of a Khasi tribe. A matrilineal society for generations it has remained, where the 'khadduh' or youngest daughter, inherits the wealth of the family, and the men marry into these homes; their children take their mother's surname. Below are two examples of Klupper's work (The Kingdom of Girls, 2015).


They believe that only girls may preserve the family line - those without girls are called "iap-duh," - extinct.

This tribe are incredibly interesting from a social standpoint (although some male members of the tribe are calling for gender equality, somewhat fed up with their second-class station), but also from an environmental edge; their understanding of the provinces within which they reside, and the fast-disappearing knowledge of the medicinal uses of the plants around. Indeed, one of their main sources of income are through the cultivation of Betel leaves, sold commonly throughout Bangladesh for the stimulant they produce, alongside their aid in digestion. The Khasi tribes are on the verge of disappearance, as are many of the old ways of living - along with their cache of knowledge and understanding. Rahmatullah et al., 2013 published an excellent article regarding their medicinal knowledge and fading presence in the Sylhet division.

What Kuppel captures in his photographic series is the primordial role of girls in this society; a challenge, perhaps, to be issued towards the patriarchal societies of the west?

Stepping Forward

Either the Earth is racing forward or we are; the pace of transition I cannot wrap my head around. In light of the Paris summit and with my fellow UK citizens sitting in the soggiest Christmas season I've ever witnessed, the truly frightening prospect of climate change is finally, I think, beginning to dawn on the human race. Excluding Donald Trump perhaps, King of the Britons. 

Stepping in to 2016 will mark a new step in the right direction regarding the effort to combat climate change, opened with a salute from the National Geographic: Why We Need Wild . Bill Gates stole the show with his multi-billion $$$$ investment in the Initiative CleanTech, a milestone private-sector display of support towards the battle against what could be described as the biggest display of universal masochism ever unanimously encouraged by a species that clearly never gripped the concept of self-preservation - so well done Bill Gates, you the Man. My only reservations stem from the implication that we require new technology to combat climate change, when in fact, we have had the clean technology for years - the policy and their use however, now that has been sadly lacking for years. 

On that note, I would like to shout out to our beloved Prime Minister, David Cameron, who was about as smooth as an old lady on a pogo stick in a muddy ditch during the Paris Summit after slashing UK green energy subsidies before walking backwards in to the climate change talks. May your reign be fruitful and your priorities be as well-placed as ever. 

Too harsh, perhaps, but OTT cynicism is endearing, right mother? 

In all seriousness, it would appear that we are striding forward as a collective to attempt to preserve the environment we live in, protect ecological islands such as the Serengeti, and evolve the urban sphere in to one more united with the Earth, which makes me proud, because let's face it, humans have been the bamboo splinter shoved into the nail bed of the Earth for ages.




This guy recently posted a short scientific critique of the climate change target based off of the abstract of a Nature Geoscience article, which I found pretty interesting and informative, if you're interested: http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2015/12/16/a-scientific-critique-of-the-two-degree-climate-change-target/