Peace: Developing Human DNA

In the beginning of human history there was man and man knew nothing. He did not know what to eat. He did not know what to drink. He did not know what to wear, if anything. He was in the tabula rasa state – a blank slate.

Life would have been impossible if that is all that were true. Thankfully, that backward state, compared to the other species around him, came with a healthy curiosity. But, as we can see from the fragmentation that haunts us, it came with a price. How did it happen? I think that ancient human literature casts some light on this. See if you agree with my reconstruction, if you will?

The early years of human existence on this planet will forever be shrouded in mystery but we have sufficient information to retrace the steps of our ancestors.

A Closer Look
Whether you subscribe to its teaching or not there can be no doubt that the book of Genesis is a part of human literature and it provides an early perspective on the development of a young species.

According to that story, our history began with one individual whose future development was contained in the information encoded in his DNA molecule. It is an interesting commentary on the organismic nature of the species that each human being also begins life as a one-celled zygote. As trite as it may sound, it is good to note that this individual, who is called Adam in the book of Genesis, knew everything that humans knew. He was the entire human race. He represented its present and future existence.

I can imagine that his first curiosities revolved around the need for survival. He had to satisfy his needs for food, water and shelter. He was only concerned with his survival but his survival was inextricably tied to the survival of the species.
Obviously, he satisfied these curiosities by observing the other species around him. This is important because observation is the first step in the scientific method that has driven so much of contemporary human existence.

At the same time that man was gaining new knowledge from his curiosity the population of the species doubled. It is interesting to note that the zygote also divides to become a two-celled organism.

Whatever knowledge humans now had was in the minds of two individuals, then four then more. This is the same process that occurs with a developing human being as cells divide under the direction of the DNA molecule. Each time a cell divides a copy of the DNA molecule is reconstituted in the new cell. Each time a new human being arrived in the species a copy of the information known to humans at the time was passed on so he could contribute to the survival and growth of the species through his own survival and growth.

In this respect humans were no different from non-human species. To some extent the infants of each species have to learn from the adults of the species those skills needed for survival, whether it was how to hunt or how to fly. Humans were different in that they were adding new skills to their DNA profile but the process of education was the same.

The DNA molecule consists of information and education, as well as cell-division, is the process by which the transfer of information occurs. In the same way that cell-division sometimes results in flaws in the organism’s genomic instructions our continuing education as a species seems to have resulted in a flaw in our genomic instructions as a species.

The saga continues.