One of the neat things about evolution is how much variety it supports. Unlike the thinking of many prescriptionist people, Mother Nature does not support “There is only one right way.”
To succeed at evolution requires passing a simple test: have lots of grandchildren who also have lots of grandchildren. It's simple to say, but the ways of passing the test are nearly endless as demonstrated by the variety of species that exist on Earth today. Even within the human species there is a lot of variety.
Because Us versus Them is instinctive thinking, many people don't want to recognize how essential variety is to human existence. An example of the difficulty people have in embracing “more than one right way” is this 26 Apr 14 Economist article, “Robocopulation: Using robots to model an evolutionary conundrum”, which talks about using robots and software to model why variety is sustainable in mating practices. Supporting variety is the converse of Social Darwinism thinking. Social Darwinism is a popular concept which uses Darwin’s theories (in an incorrect way) to support “there is one right way” thinking. This section is the opposite of Social Darwinism. It will be covering interesting examples of the variety that is successful in the experiment of “being human.”
Earth's climate and geology vary enormously from place to place on the planet. At the poles we have ice lands and waters, and moving from those towards the equator, we encounter thousands of different kinds of ecosystems, both on land and in various bodies of water. These environments also change over time; we have Ice Ages and Interludes between the Ice Ages. The result is Earth's biosphere supports millions of species. Another result is that a versatile species, such as homo sapiens, can benefit from a lot of internal variety. Consider the differences in what is required to live between surviving on a beach near the equator and a beach near the Arctic Circle. Yet humans manage to do both. This happens because there is a lot of versatility built in to the human body design, and because humans are such voracious learners.
Even within a single environment diversity can aid survival. Here is a simple example from the world of flowers.
One of the flowers that blooms by roadsides in America and Korea is the cosmos. Those I have admired have three colors of flowers: white, light purple and dark purple.
Why three colors? Why not just one? Here is what could be a compelling reason. The plants have a purple gene and a white gene for their blossom color. Two whites produces a white blossom, white and purple produces a light purple blossom, and two purples produces a dark purple blossom. Suppose that the white blossoms are so-so at attracting pollinators, the light purple blossoms are real good, and the dark purples are terrible - the pollinators can't even see them.
Why don't the dark purples disappear entirely? Because if they did, the light purples could never appear since the purple gene would be gone. All that would be left are so-so white blossoms. The species thrives when there is a mix of purple and white genes. This is an example of Mother Nature supporting diversity even within a single homogenous environment. In this case, a feature is not successful in its own right, but it survives because it allows some other successful component to exist.
An example of this same relation in humanity is the mutation which causes sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia is not good, but that is the product of having two sickle cell genes. One gene produces resistance to malaria, which is a good thing. As a result this mutation thrives in areas of West Africa where humans have lots of exposure to deadly forms of malaria.
Pack your bags and kiss the family good-bye. You're going away... far away... and you're going to stay there for years, and build an entirely new life while you're there. Sound fun? Sound like a good way to spend your time and effort? For most people this sounds nuts! But for a few...
This is the colonial experience. In the civilized setting, with much better transportation available, it is the immigrant experience. (One of the big differences between Colonial and Immigrant is that Industrial Age immigrants can move faster, cheaper, and more easily than sailing ship era colonials could.) For some in the community this is an acceptable experience, for many others this sounds like experiencing a version of hell on earth.
The Colonial experience is one example of a place where diversity works well for the human species. It pays to have a few people willing to move, but not everyone. Because it pays off, diverse thinking is built into the human gene pool. We need to recognize this. When we treat all the members of the community as if they all think the same, this causes great waste, which often shows up as disenfranchisement - members feel the community just doesn't understand them, and if it doesn't... screw it!
In Neolithic Village environments all people move around, but much of the moving is between familiar places and along with familiar people. In contrast, during Agricultural and Industrial eras, many people become sedentary. The colonial/immigrant experience was completely different in both environments. It was people moving to somewhere unknown and strange, and being with strange people. This move to a totally strange place can be for reasons as straightforward as finding new fertile lands to exploit. Or it can be for more subtle reasons, such as learning new techniques to exploit the land - those new ways can then be brought back to the homeland. For example: discovering the use of horses for cultivation.
Moving somewhere strange, however, is an example of risky behavior - it can bring benefits, but there is nothing certain about that happening. Much of the time the risks lead to failure. But if the occasional rewards pay off more than the costs of many failures, it can be worth it - for individuals as well as the community.
Many chose to look upon moving away as too risky. It means giving up the cooperation and good feelings brought by close friends and serving family. These people are powered more by devotion than risk. This is another style of human thinking that works well, and it is part of the thinking diversity that the gene pool supports.
The interesting part is these many styles of thinking have different circumstances in which they work well. This is true in the Neolithic Village environment, and it is even more true in the civilized environment because the civilized environment is both more diverse in the kinds of lifestyles that can be lived as well as more diverse in the kinds of risks that can be taken.
When the civilized environment allows for the colonial/immigrant experience, communities can thrive rather than stagnate, and individuals can succeed rather than experience the disenfranchisement that causes waste.
Most women marry within their community. This practice strengthens the extended family and meshes nicely with Us versus Them thinking. But a small percentage of women in the community marry with outsiders. Why? Because when some women marry outside the community, variety is added to the gene pool and the cultural pool - this is good. This is another example of Mother Nature supporting variations in human thinking.
In the traditional marriage (meaning a usual form of marriage, not something terribly expensive and commercial as is the common usage today) a woman joins up with a man of her community. The benefit of this is that she keeps her ties with existing friends and family, and she continues to support the community she was born and raised in. These are strong benefits, and this is supported by Us versus Them thinking, so it is a common choice.
The usual marriage works well - adding some variety to it works even better. Cultural mixing and gene mixing are benefits recognized by most societies - the jokes about isolated in-bred country folk are one of many examples of recognizing the importance of variety.
So, how do we achieve this mixing? The answer is to allow instinct to encourage some women (and men) to feel comfortable about getting out of the box. The result is having some women go through a “dating phase” when they get curious about and attracted to men of other cultures. If the thinking gets strong enough, and circumstances are favorable, women marry out of her culture.
An exotic example of this is the custom in some isolated southwest Chinese villages to have a festival where the women deliberately look for strangers to couple with for an evening or two. This seemingly radical approach is, for these people, an acceptable way to bring diversity to the community’s gene pool.
Non-traditional marriages, or exotic couplings, within a community bring diversity and enhance survival.
Us versus Them thinking supports a prescriptive view of life - there is one right way. But the harsh reality of living on earth is full of variety. This means evolution supports more variety than Us versus Them thinking chooses to recognize. Evolution supports Us versus Them thinking in many members of the community, but it also supports out of the box thinking for a some members of the community.
As humankind has become more civilized and more prosperous, the variety available for humans to experience has grown. This means that the out of the box thinking - the thinking that supports variety - has become even more valuable. This is something we need to keep in mind. When our hearts are telling us there is one right way, we need to check with our heads and see if this is really so.