Darwin's Revenge

The popular science media are raving about the latest news – Darwin was wrong!

Researchers have detected a gene in mice that propagates rapidly through mouse populations at much higher than the expected rate. Termed R2d2 (no, not after the Star Wars droid but “Responder to meiotic drive 2”), this gene not only promotes itself like a cheap politician but actually harms evolutionary health by reducing fertility. Female mice carrying this gene give birth to fewer litters.

It is this last bit which has popular science writers giddy with glee.

Charles Darwin theorized that creatures evolve by natural selection. A gazelle which is slightly quicker is more likely to pass on its genes to offspring than one which is slightly slower.

But the R2d2 gene confers an evolutionary disadvantage on mice (fewer litters) while propagating itself vigorously. How can this be? Oh, poor Darwin, spinning in his grave.

Rest easy, Sir Charles, your elegant theory is intact. The rapid propagation of R2d2 is occurring only in laboratory mice. Scientists have observed that in wild mice, R2d2 is far rarer than they had predicted.

This phenomenon is easily explained. Laboratory mice are fed and watered daily by their human caretakers. No ferrets or hawks or snakes are permitted within their cage. Wild mice, on the other hand, have to deal with reality. Wild mice with stronger evolutionary traits (such as higher fertility) tend to survive and pass on their genes. The others (e.g., R2d2 mice), are out-competed.

What is missing in the laboratory is the evolutionary hammer, the enforcer, the ultimate judge: death.

Death by starvation. Death by predation. Death by any means determines which genes do not progress to the next generation .  And the flip side – those organisms with a survival advantage are more likely to pass on their genes to the next generation.

A classic example is the rapid adaptation of cliff swallows. In a 30 year longitudinal study of these birds living under bridges and underpasses in Iowa, researchers found that the birds evolved shorter wings over this time. As a result, these more maneuverable birds were able to dart and twist more quickly and avoid collisions with cars and trucks. Evolution doesn’t always proceed at a snail’s pace.

But evolution requires death. It cannot weed out weak or ill-suited organisms without terminating them before they can procreate.

In the simplest terms, an organism is a natural “computer” utilizing energy and processing information in a bid to successfully propagate its genes. For those that fail, it’s the end of the line for their particular genetic code.

Survival of the fittest surprisingly applies in unexpected places. Corporations, while their status of “personhood” is the subject of intense debate, are nonetheless organisms that compete and struggle for survival. They utilize energy and process information in a bid to thrive. Corporations which make poor decisions or don’t adapt to a constantly changing business environment will wither and die. Those which read the tea leaves and execute well are successful, creating profits and jobs and paying taxes into the public fisc. The key to this diaspora of commerce is competition, forcing out those who cannot.

Uber and Lyft are thriving, exploiting new technologies and reading the public’s desires. Kodak bowed to the ubiquitous smartphone camera. Hostess (Twinkies and Sno Balls) misread the public’s growing health preferences.

At the other end of the spectrum are government programs and their bureaucracies. These behemoths never die, whether successful or not. Government programs, in spite of claims to the contrary, are not subject to competition or benchmarking. Their budgets inexorably climb upward and we poor taxpayers are continually burdened to make good. There is no competition from an alternative to drive the unsuccessful programs out of business. (Except, perhaps, in the realm of successful charter schools – hated bitterly by pro-government folks).

And then there is us – humans. Long ago we reached the stage where starvation and predation ceased to be a major factor in inhibiting propagation. We birth our young with few impediments, perhaps only a few car wrecks or medical mistakes or an odd disease. In the United States, the infant mortality rate in 2014 was 582 infant deaths per 100,000 births. While every such death is a tragedy, the infant survival rate is an astounding 99.4%.

No, Darwin’s law no longer applies to us or our government bureaucracies.

This may be a good thing. Or, perhaps, not.