The selfish gene theory Essay Example

The selfish gene theory Paper Therefore, if people acted purely in their self-interest as relayed in the often misunderstood purest form of the selfish gene theory, this person would not contribute to the common account in the first place and would reap the rewards of everyone else’s contribution. Contributions to the common fund started at approximately 50% of the total points of each player but this decreased over the course of the game as some people put less in the common account. Justifications for the decline in cooperation were that the only way to punish people who were not contributing to the common account was to decline to contribute to that account also. We will write a custom essay sample on The selfish gene theory specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The selfish gene theory specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The selfish gene theory specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It begs the question as to how sustainable cooperative and social behaviours are without a significant deterrent to behaving selfishly. When this game was conducted with opportunity to heavily punish non contributors by using their own points to deduct from those of the non-contributing players this was consistently selected. This pattern of behaviour meant that cooperation no longer decreased over the rounds so cooperative behaviour was maintained by reward and punishment as it often is in society. More recent neurobiological evidence supports the notion that even this seemingly altruistic behaviour by the actor is selfish at a genetic level, De Quervain et al (2004) found that when a person punishes another for non-cooperative behaviour the dorsal striatum is stimulated and as this is the circuitry involved in reward-related activity there is a direct fitness benefit being bestowed by this behaviour to the actor. Additionally, there are indirect benefits for the group to which the actor belongs as this behaviour increases their survival chances and productivity. Therefore the overall fitness benefits to the person’s genes through the ultimate maintenance of the group and societal norms which help to preserve that group outweighs the personal sacrifices made to maintain this system of cooperative and social fairness which has fitness benefits for those who engage in it (Hamilton, 1964, 1975). If selfish behaviour increases a persons’ overall fitness then it would seem obvious that genes which promote selfishness should increase their presence in the gene pool and that altruistic genes would therefore be outbred. This would mean that Dawkins (1976) explanation for cooperative and social behaviour would be fundamentally flawed. However, game theory has shown how important the combination of those who behave selfishly and those who behave in a seemingly altruistic way is to the evolution of the genes that promote these behaviours. A game called ‘prisoners dilemma’ demonstrates that when two people behave altruistically they increase the overall fitness of both parties and hence the gene that promotes this behaviour is likely to survive and be replicated. When both parties behave selfishly both decrease their overall fitness which makes the gene responsible less likely to survive and be replicated and when one partner behaves selfishly it is their own fitness that will increase but if there is discrimination from those who have the altruistic genes in their willingness to interact with those carrying the selfish gene then this explains why the population is not overcome by those carrying the selfish gene. Dawkins purports that consciousness has evolved to be able to override the influence of the genes and that the more executive decisions are made at the helm of this consciousness. It is the relationship between the genes and consciousness that determine how a person will behave and the influence of the environment and its culture shapes consciousness more than genes do. Dawkins acknowledged a meme as a unit of culture that can be passed from person to person at a much faster rate than genes would be and therefore memes create rules for cooperative and social behaviour and these rules help to maintain systems of cooperation by punishing those who do not engage fairly in social interactions. Therefore where behaviours cannot be explained by genes they are explained by memes and Cartesian-dualism. Because ultimately genes are primarily concerned with their own replication, they influence people to behave in ways that are most likely to meet this need; altruistic and cooperative behaviour has evolved as a consequence of its success at replicating itself and therefore cooperative and social behaviour is explained by the SGT as having evolved at the level of the genes through selfish means. Cooperative and social behaviour at the level of the organism is therefore only a mechanism to ensure that the needs of the genes are being met. The survival of the fittest is therefore not a competition for resources and advantageous selfish behaviour but it is an enhanced chance of survival and reproduction bestowed on those who behave in efficient ways such as through cooperative and social behaviours (Margulis Lovelock, 1974) Conclusively, Dawkins SGT appears to be able to offer adequate explanations for cooperative and social behaviours that enhance the fitness of the actor and those who share the same genes. If the fitness is not directly or indirectly enhanced with an immediate effect then this can be explained as having a lifetime fitness benefit by this same theory but it is worth noting that measuring lifetime fitness benefits is difficult to do which limits this explanation. The weaker the genetic connection between the actor and the recipient the weaker the theory becomes when offering explanations for cooperative and social behaviours, especially as the behaviour of the actor becomes increasingly altruistic. Therefore from the perspective of the SGT even apparently cooperative and social behaviour at the level of the organism is always one of selfish motivation at the level of the genes; put succinctly, ‘scratch an altruist and watch a hypocrite bleed’ (Ghiselin, 1974). References Dawkins, R. (1976). The selfish gene. New York: Oxford University Press. Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I II. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 7, pp. 1-52. Hamilton, W. D. (1975). Innate social aptitudes of man: An approach from evolutionary genetics. In R. Fox (Ed. ), Biosocial anthropology (pp. 133-155). New York: Wiley. Sachs, J. L. , Mueller, U. G. , Wilcox, T. P. , Bull, J. J. (2004). The evolution of cooperation. Quarterly Review of Biology, 79, pp. 135-160. Trivers, R. L. (1971) Evolution of reciprocal altruism. Q. Rev. Biol. 46, pp. 35-7. Gardner, A. , and West, S. A. 2004. Spite and the scale of competition. J. Evol. Biol. 17, pp. 1195–1203. Gardner, A. and West, S. A. 2006. Demography, altruism, and the benefits of budding. Journal of Evolutional Biology. 19, pp. 1707–1716. West, S. A. , Gardner, A. , Barton, N. H. (2007). The relation between multilocus population genetics and social evolution theory. 169, pp. 207–226. Maynard Smith, J. (1964). Group selection and kin selection. Nature, 20, pp. 1145-1147. Johannsen, W. (1911). The genotype conception of heredity, Amer. Natur. , 1911. 95. 1911-10005-00110. 1086/279202. Krebs, J. R. , Davies, N. B. (1993). An introduction to behavioral ecology. (3rd ed. ). Oxford, england: blackwell. de Quervain, D. J. , Fischbacher, U. , Treyer, V. , Schellhammer, M. , Schnyder, U. , Buck, A. , Fehr, E. (2004, August 27). The neural basis of altruistic punishment. Science, 305, 1254-1258. West, S. A. , A. S. Griffin, and A. Gardner. 2007. Social semantics: altruism, cooperation, mutualism, strong reciprocity and group selection. J. Evol. Biol. 20, pp. 415–432. West, S. A. , A. S. Griffin, A. Gardner, and S. P. Diggle. 2006. Social evolution theory for microorganisms. Nat. Rev. Microbiol. 4, pp. 597–607. Griffin, A. S. , and S. A. West. 2002. Kin selection: fact and fiction. Trends Ecol. Evol. 17, pp. 15–21. Frank, S. A. (2003). Perspective: repression of competition and the evolution of cooperation. Evolution 57. pp. 693–705. Lehmann, L. , and L. Keller. 2006. The evolution of cooperation and altruism— a general framework and a classification of models. J. Evol. Biol. 19 pp. 1365–1376. Kummerli, R. , Gardner, R. , West, S. A. , Griffin, A. S. (2008) Limited dispersal, budding dispersal and cooperation: an experimental study. Ghiselin, M. (1974). A radical solution to the species problem. Systematic Zoology, 23, 536-554. Van Baalen M. and Jansen V. A. A. (2006) Kinds of kindness: classifying the causes of altruism and cooperation. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 19: 1377-1379 Heylighen F. (1992) Selfish Memes and the Evolution of Cooperation, Journal of Ideas , 2. pp 77-84.

Parables about the Kingdom of God Essay Example

Parables about the Kingdom of God Essay Example Parables about the Kingdom of God Essay Parables about the Kingdom of God Essay Essay Topic: Parable Of the Sower The God Of Small Things The Kingdom of God is like a light bulb in the room. The light is in the darkness. Even though you dont see it when it is switched off doesnt mean it is not there. It only takes one man to switch it on, but it brings light to the whole room and those in it.The Kingdom of God is like when you are taking a bus to Brighton. It doesnt matter from when or where you take it, or which seat you sit on. What matters is that it arrives at the right destination. It is the destination that counts.If Jesus were alive today he would tell a story like the ones above because a parable is a simple story about everyday life with a religious meaning.But why did Jesus use parables?Jesus was living 2000 years ago in Palestine. Jerusalem itself was only a small town. At that time the people were mostly farmers and fishermen. Simple people relied on these two professions to support their families; this for them was everyday life so they knew everything about fishing and farming. Jesus taught parables about everyday life so people to understand them. Jesus parables were simple stories easy to remember. Most people could not remember long stories in the bible or the Ten Commandments. Being about everyday life it was easy for people to relate to them. Jesus parables had a religious meaning about God and Gods Kingdom. Jesus never really told people the exact things that would happen with the coming of Gods Kingdom but used parables to teach and communicate to them. In Marks Gospel it is said that Jesus had an extraordinary personality and used miracles to grab peoples attention. Then he would tell them parables that would seem very simple and meaningless stories but in fact they had a hidden religious meaning about the Kingdom of God.Jesus used parables to get the message across to people and his disciples. Referring to Marks Gospel Jesus did not tell his disciples he was the Messiah. Neither did he tell them what the exact things about the Kingdom of God. For this he gave them clues and used parables. Sometimes the disciples would not understand the parables and Jesus would only explain it to them when they were alone. Jesus acknowledged he was the Messiah only after Peters Declaration. It was important that Jesus taught the 12 disciples who he was before word got out. He needed to keep the Messianic Secret from Jews, their leaders and the Romans.If he taught too publicly, he would have been arrested and killed. Jesus was arrested only four days after the Messianic Secret got out. It was important that Jesus taught the 12 disciples who he was before word got out. He needed to keep the Messianic Secret from Jews, their leaders and the Romans/Gentiles.If Jesus taught too publicly he would have been arrested and killed. The first time Jesus publicly accepted being the Messiah was the Entry in Jerusalem. Jesus was arrested just four days after the Entry in Jerusalem (the Messianic Secret was out). If he had said that he was the Messiah when he was baptised, the Jews w ould have arrested Jesus for Blasphemy; the Romans would have been displeased about it because they thought he was trying to form a Jewish Kingdom and drive them out. By teaching in parables Jesus was able to keep the Messianic Secret. He did three years of secret teaching before his death.The parables message was also simple and short. For example the Kingdom of God is open to children is the message of the parable Jesus blesses the children.What could it feel like to belong to the Kingdom of God?To belong to the Kingdom of God means being part of something holy and important. It is like living in one country but being from another. In this case its living in Earth but feeling that your heart and soul belong in Gods Kingdom. To belong to the Kingdom of God is being part of something special and being proud of it. It means to have a relationship with God, accepting God and obeying his rules.Marks Gospel is persuasive writing aimed to convince people that Jesus is Son of God. There a re 7 parables in Marks Gospel. In each one of them there is a message about the Kingdom of God.One parable is the parable of the Mustard Seed. In this parable the Mustard Seed represents the Kingdom of God. The Mustard seed grows into the biggest plant while the Kingdom of God into the biggest Kingdom of all. In this parable Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God will start small and its hard to see at present but it will come and surely grow. Jesus also tells us that the coming of the Kingdom of God happens gradually, not overnight.Jesus also says that birds come and make their nests in the trees shade. This means that Gentiles will be included in the Kingdom of God. Another reference to this argument is given when Jesus goes to the temple, drives out all those who are buying and selling, and says: God said his temple will be the house of prayer for people of all nations. He includes people of all nations, not only Jews.Another parable is the parable of A Lamp under a Bowl. Here Je sus teaches that whatever is hidden will be brought out in the open. He says that you should not be ashamed of being in the Kingdom of God or to do what God wants you to.In Jesus blesses the children, we are informed that the Kingdom of God is open to children. Children are innocent, sincere and honest. They dont lie; solely express what they feel. That is why Jesus says that unless you receive the Kingdom of God like a child you will not enter it. You have to love God with truthfulness just like a child loves his parents. You should want the Kingdom of God sincerely, with all your heart and soul to enter it. Thats why Jesus explains this parable.No-one pours new wine into used wineskins, because the wine will burst the skins and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.- says Jesus in the parable of the Wineskins.The wineskins represent the laws of Judaism. The fact that Jesus said new wine must be put into fresh wineskins me ans that the Kingdom of God cannot be contained within the old laws of the Judaism. New laws must be made and a better religion formed. This is Christianity.In the parable of the Growing Seed just like its up to the farmer to scatter the seeds it is up to God to bring about the Kingdom of God. God allows the world to run on then brings about his Kingdom. Like the plant that starts life as a seed the Kingdom of God will start small but will surely grow. Like the growing of the seed the coming of the Kingdom of God happens gradually, and when the time comes we will all be judged by God.Another parable is the parable of the Sower. Like in other parables Jesus speaks here in metaphors. The sower sows Gods message. The sprouting of seeds represents the spreading of Gods Message. The seed are sprouted and sown everywhere so the Good News about the Kingdom of m God should be spread everywhere. Some will not listen, some will listen and forget it while some will give it up, but others will listen to the message and follow God. Despite seeds falling on paths and being eaten by birds, falling on rocky grounds and drying out, falling among thorn bushes and not producing any fruit there will be seeds that fall on good soil and produce fruit. Despite people giving up there will be those who will believe and the Kingdom of God will grow.MetaphorRepresentsCorn that fell on the path and is eaten by birds.People ruled by Satan that takes Gods Message away from them.Corn that fell on rocky grounds and dried out.People that give up Gods Message as soon as persecution and difficulties appear because of it.Corn that falls among bushes that was choked by thorn bushes and didnt produce fruit.People who hear Gods Message but worry, love and desires for this life makes them forget it.Corn that fell on good soil and produced fruit.People who hear the message, accept it and follow God.There were two roads to the fishing lake. One looked muddy and dangerous while the other looked in very good condition. Many passers took the first one while a few took the bad one. What the travellers did not know was that the good road took you got worse as you go and took you somewhere where there werent any fish. The good one got better and took you somewhere where there were plenty of fish to catch.The parable of the Tenants in the vineyard like the one above is allegory. An allegory is a special kind of parable. An allegory is like a code. To understand the allegory one must decipher the code. In this parable an owner lets out his vineyard to tenants. He sends slaves to collect his share when the time comes but the tenants beat some and kill others. At the end he sends his own son but the tenants kill him too. Then the owner returned, killed those tenants and let the vineyard to others.ComponentMeaningOwnerGodVineyardKingdom of GodFence/TowerStrict boundariesHarvestObedience to GodTenantsJews, especially Jew leadersSlavesProphetsSon of OwnerJesus Christ-MessiahDeath of SonCruci fixion of JesusOwner returns and ejects tenants.Jews expelled from the Kingdom of God.Owner gets new tenants.Kingdom of God handed over to Gentiles.God built the Kingdom of God for Jews. But to be included for in his Kingdom, Jews had to obey God. They didnt. God sent many prophets to get Jews to obey him but they wouldnt listen to them. Jews and their leaders showed disrespect, beat prophets, treated them shamefully and killed some of them. But even so, God didnt give up on Jews, and even when there was nobody else to send, God sent his own dear son Jesus, thinking and hoping that they would listen to him. Instead Jews crucified Jesus for telling the truth and spreading Gods message. Because of this God expelled Jews from his Kingdom and handed it over to Gentiles.The stone the builders rejected as worthless, turned out to be the most important one of all. Noone expected that a son born to a simple couple from Nazareth who later grew up to become a carpenter was the Son of God, the Messiah. The Jews were expecting the wrong kind of Messiah (a big powerful leader who would kick the Romans out and create a Jewish Kingdom). They were so blinded by this vision that they didnt recognise the real Messi8ah when he finally came, and crucified him.The new tenants represent the Gentile so when the vineyard is handed over to Gentiles means that the Kingdom of God is open to non-Jews.In this parable Jesus did two things:1) Informed us that the Kingdom of God is open to non-Jews.2) Predicted that the Messiah would be crucified.This Earth will never be Gods Kingdom.Yes, I agree with the statement that this Eart6h will never be Gods Kingdom. If Gods Kingdom is a place where people of all nations would live together in happiness then it will not be realised in Earth. There is far too much suffering in Earth to become a happy place.Everyday more teenagers turn to drugs and crime. Their family lives are broken. Many of them die, their parents feel they failed in educating and raising them, and have to bear the suffering of burying them.We have seen many deaths of innocent children in the last few years. The killers are getting younger. One example is the murder of Damilola Taylor. All who knew him say he was a gentle, friendly and loving boy. Yet muggers who had tried to take his money of him killed him on the way home. It is worse the fact that the muggers are all under 16. Police charged four boys under 16 with murder.People have been beaten by muggers trying to steal things as worthless as a mobile phone and have been killed by car thieves. A father of two was killed while trying to stop thieves stealing a relatives car, and a girl was shot by someone trying to mug her mobile phone. If she hadnt ducked she also would have been killed. Brixtons residents are afraid to go out at night. They fear of being attacked by drug users in the area. It is not safe for women to go out at night, as there is a possibility of them getting raped. There have been rape cases in England and throughout the world in which women have been left traumatised.The world is unbalanced. There are billionaires and people that live in simple shelters or in the streets who dont always get to eat. Hundreds of people die everyday in the streets of Britain and all other countries around the world. In third world countries men work for a small amount of money, just enough to supply their families basic needs. Countries fight each other when they know theres nothing to gain from it but suffering and death. Nuclear tensions have been rising. Recently there were the attacks to the World Trade Centre in New York by Muslim fundamentalists where around 3000 people lost their lives.If Earth is to become Gods Kingdom then why is it such a ruthless, unequal and dangerous place?Jesus teaches his disciples and us in Marks Gospel that if one of you wants to be great he must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first he must be the slave of all. This tells us to love and respect each other. If people followed Jesus teaching to love, help and respect each individual there would not be killings, thefts, poverty or rapes. We would all live in happiness as humans.The Kingdom of God is proleptic. Proleptic means leap forward. The Kingdom of God has begun and it isnt yet fully realised. We are now living in the overlap period. We are living in this world but truly our hearts belong in another. This world was not designed perfectly. It is like a test to prepare us for the next one.Other people would disagree with me. They would point at all the good things happening in this world. They would indicate at the life cycle and how beautiful it is. They would denote at how flowers bloom in the Spring, how fruits are made in Autumn. The hot Summer that makes us head to the beaches, and the cold of Winter that keeps us in our homes. Theyd tell that nature and how life is adapted to the environment is beautiful. Theyd say that each season has its own beauty.But Nature itself can be cruel. We have seen cases of flooding where people have lost their houses, and sadly some even their lives.Some people would point at how people have helped others. Theyd point at those who have devoted their lives to the charities and how theses charities are supported by ordinary people. They point out at how people help each other in need and the money donations to help people in poor countries. Theyd say the Sun, the wind, the rain and the sea are all beautiful things but have become so ordinary that we dont notice them any more.These people would say that miracles happen. Theyd indicate at how cures have been found for deadly diseases. For example much smaller percentage of women die of breast cancer. They indicate how babies born prematurely have survived. Some months ago we had the case of the two girl twins that we joined together and were sharing the same organs. Doctors separated them, one died but the other survived. By pointing to the goo d things they would say that the earth could besome Gods Kingdom.I agree with them. The world is beautiful and it is wonderful to live in. But I feel that there is just too much suffering in this world. From my point of wiew God would make a fresh start with the human race, in a world where there would only be goodness and joy, not suffering or tears. Therefore my conclusion is that I must agree that this Earth will never be Gods Kingdom.

Free Trade Agreement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Free Trade Agreement - Essay Example It brings prosperity. However it may be a disadvantage for protected industries which are at a comparative disadvantage (Anderson, 22, 1997). Governments worldwide are considering setting up free trade areas which they believe will open markets and improve the standard of living of their people. However there has been some opposition for the establishment of free trade areas also. Some people say that it would be disastrous for the trade and stability of smaller countries (Daniells, 54, 2005). Free Trade areas open up markets and eliminate tariffs. However this would be disastrous for small countries since their industries and agricultural products would not be able to compete with the corporate goods of powerful countries. Foreign agricultural imports would destroy a small country's agriculture. The country would be dependant on imports to survive and feed its population. Small countries have been reluctant to join free trade areas because of concerns that their small industrial bases would be unable to compete with corporations of powerful and industrialized countries (Anderson, 22, 1997). According to economists free trade areas have short impacts on member states as they adjust their production and consumption according to falling trade barriers. They also initialize improved specialization of resources and create more opportunities for exchange within the region (Frumkin, 71, 2000).This allows consumers to benefit from lower prices. Production is also increased due to reallocation of resources according to the comparative advantage. Free trade areas also cause transitional costs as companies begin to reallocate their activities which can cause short term unemployment (Esser, 65, 1999). Free Trade areas also cause long term impact on economic growth as economies grow in scale and scope (McInnis, 61, 1995). Competition increases between companies. There is also an increase in technology and investment. Companies expand their activities in the greater market. It also causes innovation and efficiency in companies. A free trade area also causes greater dependence of economies. This can cause some vulnerability and instability in a trading partner. But the trading partner also benefits from multiple links with the better performing trading partner (Esser, 65, 1999). There are other difficulties in the establishment of free trade areas. Countries with different political, legal, social and economic systems will have difficulty if trade and investment are opened between them (Walford, 51, 2005). This also can create larger transition costs. Free trade area however helps to remove barriers which prevent trade between nations, hinder production and breed corruption. A free trade area can help in reducing corruption in developing countries. They also help in promoting trade and investment. They can also help in developing the infrastructure of poor countries (Webb, 54, 2005). China has been pushing for the establishment of a free trade area in Asia and the world despite being a developing country (Ackroyd, 34, 1997). It has participated in numerous talks and negotiations. China currently has an agreement with ASEAN. It is also negotiating with Australia and New Zealand for the establishment of a FTA. Further talks have been conducted with Japan and South Korea. These three