Dr. Robert Carter
Why would I be talking about a paper like this? Because the results are absolutely fascinating and for me very confusing. It took me a long time to realize what point the authors were actually making, why they’re talking about positive selection when what is being positively selected was a bad gene.
That’s the opposite from what I would have expected them to mean.
I thought positive selection amplifies the good genes to make things better over time to help evolution go forward. Isn’t that what we hear all the time? But no, actually the opposite was true. They found very strong selection for very bad things.
Let me explain.
Natural select is not magic. It’s not like nature can do anything. It’s not alive. It’s not conscious. It’s not doing any selecting.
So, Darwin invented this phrase which is highly problematic. In fact, he didn’t invent the phrase though. He stole it from other people. But that’s a long story. This phrase natural selection is problematic because it almost sounds like nature’s doing something.
The thing is that in English we don’t have another way to say something happens all by itself according to laws of probability and statistics, of physics and chemistry, you know, the laws of science with no outside intervention. Instead we invoke the name of a Latin goddess natur and say it’s natural. So, it’s our fault for English and not having a good word. And Darwin kind of knew that and he wrestled with it.
Now, his friend came up with the phrase “survival of the fittest” as a replacement for natural selection. But that’s also a little bit awkward because who’s the most fit? Is it the strongest, the fastest, the one with best reflexes, the smartest, the one with the best eyesight? No. None of those things are true. By definition, fitness is defined in terms of reproduction. It’s simply the thing that reproduces most wins.
Natural selection is not our enemy. It is not a friend of Darwinian evolution. It doesn’t do what Darwin thought. In fact, here’s a great case of it working in the wrong direction.
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