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<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Note
the following quote in the article below:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>“These genes…<B><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow">are changing more swiftly than
would be expected through random mutation alone</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow">.</SPAN>”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN>The genes in
question are genes that code for learning, genes that code for adaptive
intelligence. These genes outpace the others in humans and chimps. The research
outlined below indicates that these genes are first in the race to reorganize
and upgrade themselves—they outspeed other genes in evolution. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">What
do these fast-track genes have in common? They are the genes of the immune
system and the genes of apoptosis—the genes of pre-programmed cell suicide.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Pre-programmed cell suicide determines
which cells we need and which we don’t.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It resculpts the body to fit the exigencies of the moment.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>More important, the genes of
pre-programmed cell suicide determine which 50% of the cerebral neurons we’re
born with will live and which will die.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN>In this harsh
process of judgement, apoptosis shapes the brain to live in the society we’re a
part of and to deal with the problems that society demands we help solve.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Pre-programmed cell death, I suspect,
also shapes our body to fit the demands of our physical environment.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It expands the size of our lungs if we
grow up in the Andes Mountains, where the air is thin.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It makes sure that we don’t waste energy
and materiel on oversized lungs if we’re born and raised near sea level (which
60% of us humans are).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Then
there’s the immune system, a learning mesh, a creative web, a neural-net-like
community of nodes, of modules.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The
immune system is, in its own way, nearly as smart as the brain.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The brain’s advantages:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>a brain brings multiple intelligences to
work on a problem—seven of them if you go by Howard Gardner.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I suspect the brain has more than that
mere seven if you count the many forms of conscious reason, the many forms of
intuition, the many forms of muscular metaphor, the many systems that keep us
walking while we’re thinking or talking, our sensory systems, and the autonomous
systems that take care of functions we seldom have to be aware of—heartbeat,
digestion, and shunting blood to the place where it’s most needed at the
moment.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">The
genes of the immune system and of apoptosis.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These are the genes of what <I>Global
Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to the 21<SUP>st</SUP>
Century</I> calls “inner-judges” and of what <I>The Lucifer Principle: A
Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History</I> calls “self-destruct
mechanisms”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN>According to these
two books, the genes of the immune system and of apoptosis are the genes that
turn us into modules of a larger collective learning machine, a neural net that
wires our subcultures, our nations, and our global societies into a massive,
creative computational engine, a thinking, dreaming, reperceiving, and invention
machine. The genes of the immune system and of apoptosis are the non-stop
sharpeners of learning’s cutting edge.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN>And the genes of
the immune system and of apoptosis don’t lazily await random mutation to
adapt.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They take adaptation into
their own hands, into their own c’s, a’s, g’s, and t’s, into their own thinking
mesh.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">I
suspect they also pull off what Jeff Hawkins talks about in his <I>On
Intelligence</I>:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>they feed their
output back into their input.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They
experiment with adjustments in our phenotype, in our bodies and our minds. They
test their experiments in our social and physical environment. They incorporate
what works and toss out what doesn’t…even if that means tossing out you and
me.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Which means that like Eshel
Ben-Jacob’s creative webs of bacteria, the genes of the immune system and of
apoptosis, the genes of instant evolution, may be able to spot problems,
generate potential solutions, then respond to the success or failure of these
hypotheses.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">The
bottom line is this:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Communities of
genes—the community of 35,000 in a human genome, the community of 3.5
quadrillion (3,500,000,000,000,000) in a single human being, or the community of
3.5 septillion (3,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) in a society the size of
China--are much more nimble than we think.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Howard</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Retrieved May 3, 2005, from the World Wide Web
</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A
href="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7335"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"
color=#00ff00>http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7335</FONT></A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>HOME |NEWS
|EXPLORE BY SUBJECT |LAST WORD |SUBSCRIBE |SEARCH |ARCHIVE |RSS |JOBS<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Click to PrintFastest-evolving genes in
humans and chimps revealed 18:37 03 May 2005<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>NewScientist.com news service<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jennifer Viegas<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The most comprehensive <B>study</B> to
date <B>exploring the genetic divergence of humans and chimpanzees</B> has
revealed that <B>the genes most favoured by natural selection are those
associated with immunity, tumour suppression [hb: the immune system, like the
brain, is one of our swiftest learning machines], and programmed cell death [hb:
programmed cell death shapes our morphology to fit the shifts in our
environment—especially the shifts in human culture.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In other words, apoptosis is also a
learning mechanism, part of what makes the connectionist machine
work.].</B><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><B>These genes</B> show
signs of positive natural selection in both branches of the evolutionary tree
and <B><SPAN style="BACKGROUND: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow">are changing more
swiftly than would be expected through random mutation alone</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow">.</SPAN> Lead scientist Rasmus
Nielsen and colleagues at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, examined the
13,731 chimp genes that have equivalent genes with known functions in humans.
<B>Research in 2003 revealed that genes involved with smell, hearing, digestion,
long bone growth, and hairiness are undergoing positive natural selection in
chimps and humans</B>. The new study has found that the strongest evidence for
selection is related to disease defence and apoptosis - or <B>programmed cell
death - which is linked to sperm production</B>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Plague and HIV </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><B>Nielsen, a professor of bioinformatics, believes
immune and defence genes are involved in “an evolutionary arms race with
pathogens”.</B><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Viruses and other
pathogens evolve very fast, and the human immune system is constantly being
challenged by the emergence of new pathogenic threats,” he told New Scientist.
“The amount of selection imposed on the human population by pathogens - such as
the bubonic plague or HIV - is enormous. It is no wonder that the genes involved
in defence against such pathogens are evolving very fast.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Harmit Singh Malik, a researcher at the
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, US, agrees. Both
Malik and Nielsen, however, expressed surprise over the findings concerning
<B>tumour suppression, which is linked to apoptosis</B> - or programmed cell
death - <B>which can reduce the production of healthy, mature sperm.</B>
</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Selfish mutation </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">The
discovery by Nielsen that genes involved in apoptosis show strong evidence for
positive natural selection may be due, in part, to the evolutionary drive for
sperm cells to compete. Cells carrying genes that hinder apoptosis have a
greater chance of producing mature sperm cells, so Nielsen believes these genes
can become widespread in populations over time. But because primates also use
apoptosis to eliminate cancerous cells, positive selection in this case may not
be favourable for the mature animal: “The selfish mutations that cause apoptosis
avoidance may then also reduce the organism’s ability to fight cancer,” Nielsen
explains. Journal reference: Public Library of Science Biology (vol 3, issue
6)<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Related Articles Life's top 10
greatest inventions<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624941.700<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>09 April 2005<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Sleeping around boosts evolution<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18424731.500<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>13 November 2004<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Genetically-modified virus explodes
cancer cells<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn5056<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>01 June 2004<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Weblinks Rasmus Nielsen, University of
Copenhagen<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>http://www.binf.ku.dk/users/rasmus/webpage/ras.html<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Harmit Singh Malik’s lab, Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>http://www.fhcrc.org/labs/malik/<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Public Library of Science Biology<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=index-html&issn=1545-7885<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Close this window<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Printed on Tue May 03 23:54:15 BST
2005<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10">----------<BR>Howard Bloom<BR>Author of The Lucifer Principle: A
Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History and Global Brain: The Evolution
of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to the 21st Century<BR>Visiting Scholar-Graduate
Psychology Department, New York University; Core Faculty Member, The Graduate
Institute<BR>www.howardbloom.net<BR>www.bigbangtango.net<BR>Founder:
International Paleopsychology Project; founding board member: Epic of Evolution
Society; founding board member, The Darwin Project; founder: The Big Bang Tango
Media Lab; member: New York Academy of Sciences, American Association for the
Advancement of Science, American Psychological Society, Academy of Political
Science, Human Behavior and Evolution Society, International Society for Human
Ethology; advisory board member: Youthactivism.org; executive editor -- New
Paradigm book series.<BR>For information on The International Paleopsychology
Project, see: www.paleopsych.org<BR>for two chapters from <BR>The Lucifer
Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History, see
www.howardbloom.net/lucifer<BR>For information on Global Brain: The Evolution of
Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century, see
www.howardbloom.net<BR></FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>