Introduction to a Simple Model of Human Nature

I realized that I cannot possibly talk about my view of life unless I talk about human nature first. This post as an introduction of sorts to the rest of my blog. Most of my observations will be about human nature and how if manifests and affects our modern society.

I am a firm believer in the THEORY of evolution. No, this does not mean that I am not religious or that I do not believe in religion. No, this also does not mean that I AM religious. I'd rather not talk about my religious affiliation (or lack of) as it may create biases in any possible readers. Please see me as nothing more than a member of the human race, sharing my observations of the human condition. Ok, now back to the topic at hand - evolution. Note that evolution can exist side-by-side with religion. Even if a higher power designed all the life forms in this world, evolution still takes place after the creation, shaping our thoughts, actions, and behaviours. Many of my religious friends, be it Christian, Muslim, or other, have agreed that evolution can exist side-by-side with creationism. In fact, it was they who pointed this out to me. But one cannot deny the PROCESS of evolution, for its effects are clearly visible in our world, even in the short term - bacteria becoming resistant to drugs, flu viruses mutating to infect more species, and so on. So even if you do believe in creationism, you can still see how the process can shape our behaviour even in the span of a few thousand years.

What does evolution have to do with society? Well, society is also a product of evolution. Everything is based on the basic genetic wants that all lifeforms are predisposed to. We are programmed with a desire to reproduce and have our offspring reproduce and so on. Our actions are all geared toward that singular goal. We eat because we know that if we do not, we will not be alive to reproduce later. We want money because we know that resources can bring us food, shelter, and health, among other basic needs for us, our mates, and our offspring. We want to be right and to be better than others because we want to know that we will keep reproducing after others fail. We want friends because we want to know that when we are in trouble, others will come to our aid so that we can carry out our jobs as reproducers. Isn't it marvellous? DNA, a molecular structure that can replicate itself, or at least portions of itself by manipulating unimaginably complicated vehicles in the form of life. Now, of course, I am simplifying things. But as all scientists know, the best way to analyze a problem is to create the most simple model possible, then deal with exceptions by adding perturbations to this model. I will explain the exceptions later on. But for now, as disagreeable and blasphemous as this model sounds, it is the best first-order approximation to the problem of human nature. Really, the model isn't so bad after adding the perturbations, but you'll just have to trust I will talk about these later.

So, what does this tell us about humans, and most organisms in general (remember - look at the general case for now, we'll talk about the exceptions later on)? Well, we see that most direct conclusion we can make is that everyone acts in their own self-interest as we are all vying to propagate our own DNA by protecting ourselves, hoarding resources, and defending our offspring. How can society and cooperation ever develop in these situations? Well, we can draw other conclusions from this model. Funny, this reminds me of physics, where we can create very, very complex results from a set of a few basic assumptions (Maxwell's Equations, anyone?). The fact of the matter is, self-protection also implies that we are likely to create alliances with others because mutual protection results in a higher success rate than a completely individualistic way of life. At the same time, our DNA are all very similar, so that we are nearly all the same. In this way, we can explain acts of altruism because in a way, we are still defending our common DNA, our species as a whole. Here, try a mental experiment. Imagine yourself dying. Pretty horrible isn't it? Now imagine the entire human race being wiped out. Much worse. Now, imagine all life on this planet being wiped out. Even worse. So we see that these observations do coincide with our first-order model, unless you are one of those exceptions. We value ourselves first, then our species as a whole, then the rest of life in the world because there are common DNA sequences throughout all organisms. Other immediate conclusions that follow from this assumption is the rarity of cannibalism, and that extinction of even other species is generally undesirable to an individual. Of course, there are many more conclusions we can draw out of this model, but we will talk about these later.

Well, that was a summary of the first-order approximation of my mental model for the human race and life in general. As you will see later in my writings, it answers many aspects of life, and can be used to predict human behaviour with surprising accuracy. Of course, as I have said before this is only an extremely simplified version of real life. There are many things that this model does not explain, so I am in no way a crazy deviant detached from reality, as I recognize that this model can only explain a small portion of life. I cannot stress this point enough: This is only a very simplified model based on observations. A model is a model. Models never express reality, it only hints at the underlying properties of a system. There is a difference. But even though a model does not indicate anything about reality, a well constructed model can be used to predict effects and be used in suggesting new courses of action. For example, in physics, many of the quantities (pressure, energy, even location) are statistical values that reveal very little about the true nature of the particles or individual items they are describing. But using these models, we can predict and design new ways of manipulating the system to do new things. Any invention, be it air planes, the transistor, rocket engines, or anything else is based on using a basic model to make complex predictions about how to do something in a newer, better way. Similarly, we can use this simple model of humans, and life in general, to suggest new courses of action in order to make a better society for all. So our model of evolution is just that. It is a tool that we can use to understand and improve our lives, but says nothing about the true reality of life.

If you read the rest of my posts with this model in mind, you will be able to understand much more fully the point that I am getting at.