The Spirit in the Gene: Humanity's Proud Illusion and the Laws of Nature

by Reg Morrison

Book Overview

From famines and deforestation to water pollution, global warming, and the rapid rate of extinction of plants and animals--the extent of the global damage wrought by humankind is staggering. Why have we allowed our environment to reach such a crisis? What produced the catastrophic population explosion that so taxes the earth's resources? Reg Morrison's search for answers led him to ponder our species' astonishing evolutionary success. His extraordinary...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801436516
• ISBN13: 9780801436512
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great Stuff

The author thinks our species is genetically programmed for extinction and can't do anything about it. He may be right. Species usually disappear immediately after an enormous run-up in population, and our population has doubled in the last 50 years. (Without people generally taking much notice of it, I might add.) Morrison doesn't think we have much choice in the matter, and I couldn't help remember the comment of the lead character in Neil Elliott's THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JESUS CHRIST, when asked if mankind had free will sufficient to control his destiny. "Of course I believe in free will," he said, "--I have no choice!"

The elusive beast within

Reg Morrison summarizes in succinct and personal polemic style what problems the human race really faces, and does a good job of unmasking the nature of our mystically constructed delusions. It is a short book for covering such a broad sweep of our evolutionary and cultural heritage. Possibly some minor details are amiss, but the message is clear. For such an ultimately pessimistic view of what we prize most about ourselves, its punches are well delivered.According to Morrison, globalism is heading for global ecological collapse under the weight of the human plague, and will be followed by massive decline in human numbers, if not outright extinction. As the situation gets more dire, the search for mental escape in our mystical beliefs in culture-land, nationalism, media will increase, not decrease. We will be all mentally "off the planet" by the time we are kicked off it.Taking his presentation of facts and conclusions seriously means that the present course of human affairs is still heading for disaster. I present some conclusions of the book. Reg debunks some of our cherished mystical beliefs, and counterpoises his grim facts, and I present here his main conclusions.Belief 1. Humans have spiritual autonomy and are therefore accountible for their actions. Fact 1. We are genetically driven just like any other animal. We have no mind other than the body, and we lack behavioural choice.Belief 2. The environment is inherently stable and will rebound if given half a chance.Fact 2. The environment is a chaotic system and is therefore inherently unstable and always has been. If it were not so, evolution could not have occurred. Rebound is a not characteristic of the system.Belief 3. With enough moral courage, political will and technical know how, time and money, the environment could be repaired.Fact 3. Most environmental damage is inevitable product of overpopulation. The more technological the attempted solutions, the greater the environmental debt. All human activity adds to environmental debt.We fall for the false beliefs most of the time, because humans have a split brain, with "two spheres of awareness available to us, with two entirely separate behaviour control systems, one rational and one entirely non-rational.... ". Unfortunately for the human species " ... the rational brain should be viewed, not as the principal generator of behaviour and the pivot on which the species turns, but as an optional extra designed to be switched off the moment any serious evolutionary matters, such as genetic survival or propagation, arise."The best course for human species survival would be a global, concious coordinated reduction in human environmental impact, and a strong reduction in birth rate. Instead we are probably going to get conflict, continued exploitation to death and extinction, with war and upheavals on the scale of the Biblical Revelations. As Reg says, "All species must fail eventually, especially the very successful ones, or the whole sys

Exactly what is happening and why you don't believe it.

Reg Morrison tells us, in this book, not only what is happening to the world's ecosystem but he also tells us why most people do not believe it. Morrison lays it out step by step. He explains why the population, in the last century has grown at such an exponential rate, and why that growth will soon come to an end....and head dramatically in the other direction. But one of the most important things covered in this book is why we refuse to believe the obvious, why we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the Easter Islanders and refuse to believe that our actions must inevitably lead to a dramatic population collapse.Morrison tells it like it is, we are by nature anthropocentric and have ultimate faith in the ability of Homo sapiens to overcome any difficulty. Faith, Morrison tells us, is the magic ingredient that enables to make that wondrous leap from grim reality into the totally bloody ridiculous. So those who have given this book one star are the true believers. They have criticized it because they say it smacks of genetic determinism, a term invented by the critics of sociobiology, and not subscribed to by sociobiologists themselves. Or they have criticized the book because it does not offer a rosy picture where we are all saved by the wonders of science. Morrison paints science as one of the culprits in the rape of the world and not our ultimate savior. That is a message that raises the ire of many a true believer.Yet all Morrison is trying to tell us is that what has happened many times in the past on a much smaller scale, is happening again on a worldwide scale. And it will happen because our population has already reached plague proportions and is now way beyond any sustainable level. This is the very best book I have read in years, and I read an awful lot of books.

#1 Best-Seller if we "get it!" (Don't hold your breath....)

Reg Morrison has been able to take a few basic scientific proofs, put them together and achieve a conclusion that no scientist can argue with. Yet humanity is so amazingly, head-buttingly programmed to believe itself mystically created and guided that most readers will be unable to drop those "self-importance" blinders even as they read this simple truth. He realizes that fact, and realizes also that it doesn't matter.We are what we are, and we're going where we're going. Changing our "progress" to give the human branch (of our real species) a longer stretch on earth would be quite undesirable as far as nature is concerned. There is no choice in the matter - we do what comes naturally. In our case, that would be self-extinction on the double-quick. Hey, don't worry about it!

Reg Morrison wrote the book I wanted to write.

Why is economic theory so screwed-up? Why do economists invariably assume what they hope to prove? Or what's even more incredible, why does everyone on the planet seem believe this stupidity? Obviously, we must answer these questions before we can even hope to solve our collective survival problem.Guess what? Humans are genetically predisposed to believe in mystics, UFO's, Neoclassical Economic Theory, good-luck charms, etc.! In short, we evolved to believe in all kinds of gods -- including the Free Market God.Reg Morrison wrote the book I wanted to write. The forward is written by Lynn Margulis. Morrison's book is endorsed by E.O. Wilson of Harvard, and Thomas Eisner of Cornell. If you are ready for some answers, read The Spirit in the Gene : Humanity's Proud Illusion and the Laws of Nature by Reg Morrison, Lynn Margulis from Cornell University Press(This was a 07 August, 1999 BrainFood Book Alert! Permission to reprint granted!)