Week 11 - Jaiganesh Nagarajan - The Power Negativity Has in the Biological World
Negativity holds a power that can affect anything socially or physically. The power it holds ultimately depends on the input and the output. In some cases this negativity can be good. For instance, in natural selection, in order for a species to survive and adapt in a given environment, it needs to express certain genes which leads to that species thriving. The negative selection control ultimately sorts out the organisms within that species which do not contain that phenotype such as black peppered moths. After the industrial revolution, all the white peppered moths died off leaving the population of the black moths higher leading to their survival.
However there are also many effects with organisms where the negativity does not help them.
Fear is an example of negative conditioning and epigenetic inheritance. In a famous mice experiment, scientists would shock a mouse every time they smelled fruit. Repeating this experiment multiple times led the mice’s genes to be rewired and led to a premeditated response for every time they smelled that fruit. While reversible, the experiment still left the mice with a rewired system that they had to deal with for a while. This is also what leads to PTSD in some people, but PTSD is often much harder to reverse as the human mind is very complex and we have a lot more parts in our brain compared to that of a mouse. Looking at the processes of natural selection and epigenetic inheritance, we can see that negativity exists no matter what but it's how we perceive it and how we act on it that determines the overall outcome. While I mentioned the biological aspects we can also look at it in society where negativity is common throughout and people have little to no choice but to experience it sometimes whether it be on purpose or not.
I appreciate your blog that decrypts the process of acknowledging the negativity in the world. Relating the process of social acceptance to the biological definition of fitting in and the process that goes along with natural selection is a proper way to introduce social circumstances to people not familiar with the effects of fear on societal situations. Relating the moth population as a function of time before and after the Industrial Revolution aids in comprehending the examples you later introduce surrounding the mice experiments. The camouflage of the black moth expanded to encompass the entire population; similarly, many pursue ways to fit in with others.
ReplyDeleteYour rhetoric of society surrounds the image that you present. The image illustrates the apparent juxtaposition between the individual parts and the collective society composed of multiple groups of people. The human response to fear is an interesting part of our personalities that cannot be easily compared to the responses of other organisms. It is noteworthy that you address the problems with forming a comparison between the biological aspect of moths and the different complex social interactions humans have with one another. By addressing the problem and identifying limitations with the process of understanding negativity in our society, you differentiate between controllable and uncontrollable aspects of negativity in our lives. Your descriptive writing style is captivating and thorough.
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ReplyDeleteHi Jaiganesh, I agree on the power negativity holds. Negativity can have both a positive and a negative outcome depending on the situation. I love how in order for an animal to survive in a certain environment they need to produce such genes. Although, I think that the negative selection control can also strengthen animals. Through evolution, the animals could adapt and produce genes so that they could survive in that specific environment. This would be a positive outcome of negativity. An example of this would be giraffes or hummingbirds. Giraffes grew long necks so they could eat the leaves on the tall trees. Hummingbirds grew long becks so they would grab nectar. I also love your example on the moths but if I am correct, I thought that the white peppered moths evolved into black months.
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