This weeks episode is entitled why we care, why we don’t and why we should,
Caring is basic human nature,

part of what we have evolved to do.
It exists as one of many modes of human expression,
all of which are stimulated by our environment.
And I point out that while this might ensure survival one way or another
it might not always be for the best…

So let’s just get into it..

OK…

That there is
a biological and an evolutionary narrative that has the potential
to explain human behaviour
is probably as close as we can get to any kind of agreement.
We could almost call that truth.
There’s theory and experiment
and experience
all pointing in that direction.

OK, it’s consensus
and yes at the forefront of this,
we all know about a man called Richard Dawkins,
who nailed it back in the 1970’s.

Now His book,
The Selfish Gene, portrays an elegant and simple version
of the genetic narrative
in which the gene takes the starring role.

The gene is the replicator first and foremost,
and reproducing itself
it is the driving factor in the story of life.

Nothing else matters.
We, animal or human, plant or bacteria,
the Phenotypes
are incidental expressions of the genetic information.

We exist as bubbles of chemical soup, here to ensure one thing only, the survival of the gene.

We are at its beck and call. The information is stored there for ever more within us like caretakers, vessels… who knows.

We all get that, instinctively or not. That’s what we know.

The book was published in 1976 is one of the most successful scientific books ever written.

And the scientific establishment and Dawkins himself have held sway over that consensus since that time. More than 40 years ago.

And it is understandable, when the foundation of all we are and of everything we know is selfish competition. Its understandable to hear phrases such as…

People are selfish.