Tracking The Secrets of Life
I’ve enjoyed reading Book One of a four-part series, The Secrets of Life from Big Bang to Trump, by business guru SS O’Connnor.
No discussion yet of where Mr Trump fits into the evolutionary scale, but Book One, How did life end up with us? certainly lands with a romp – through the scientific world’s ideas about evolution – and then takes a chatty plunge into the tricky question of whether the ancient common gene that drives us all is wholly selfish, as some claim, or could be hardwired with a sneaky preference for a spot of altruism and co-operation.
Why would that be? O’Connor argues that, in the long run, some co-operation yields handy extra ‘fall back’ options for each participating life-form, on our turbulent planet – although not always in equal measure. In the survival stakes even a modest trade-off, tucked away in the evolutionary vaults in case of later need, is a worthy advantage.
In linked, bite-sized sections O’Connor powers through his round-up of past and present theories about how this universe began (aka the Big Bang); and then tracks our own small planet through fire and brimstone, gel, sludge and slime to Darwin and beyond, into the array of 20th and 21st century geneticists still exploring why our own proliferating and polluting species appeared at all.
Then O’Connnor tackles the ‘selfish gene’ debate. He argues that a bit of biological co-operation adds valuable back-up options for each participating species, in the art of staying alive: the genetic imperative behind all forms of life on earth. This means more than mere parasitism – which typically ‘does in’ the individual host – but a relationship that conveys some survival benefits to both parties.
This may all sound philosophical, but the ancient first gene is not a thinker. Microbe, insect or human, he notes, our shared ancestral gene doesn’t ‘care’ which lasts longest as long as something makes it through whatever this planet, outer space, or own bad habits throw at the biosphere all life-forms colonise and depend upon. So the more survival wheezes a life-form has in its armoury the better; and if adding a bit of mutual back-scratching into the mix offers extra ways to outlast some future planetary upheaval, it’s a good genetic strategy.
SS O’Connor keeps his material light and absorbable, perhaps reflecting his own early roots in advertising. References to other thinkers’ works also pepper his chapters, indicating the range of homework underpinning this easy-reading account.
I find the idea that something will survive, albeit not necessarily humankind, oddly comforting. It’s still no excuse for us messing up our planet’s environment, but it does lend a less-bleak perspective.
Humanity still has its chances at present, so let’s hope we don’t throw it all away. If we do, however, there’s likely to be something ticking over out there that can edge into poll position in the line-up to survive and thrive for a few more millennia – even if it’s currently as microscopic as we once were. Time may yet prove to be more on its side than on ours…unless we buddy-up together, somehow, of course. Maybe we already have. In the meantime, SS O’Connor’s Books 2, 3 and 4 of this series follow shortly.