“Phenocracy:
Going Off the Genetic Rails” - Stephen H Balch
Stephen
H Balch is Director of the Texas Tech Institution for the Study of
Western Civilization. printed in Quadrant, June 2016. Phenotype:
noun
Biology: the set of observable characteristics of an individual
resulting from interaction of its genotype with the environment. Genotype:
noun
Biology: the genetic constitution of an individual organism – ODE
What
Price Virtual Reality?
I'm
not ready for “VR”. I certainly have no wish to “freak out”
like the Grandmother mentioned in this morning's newspaper. At 80
(also a “Grand”) Ive seen enough 'real' reality without need for
Virtual Reality (phenocracy's new, endless frontier), or any other
means of contrived excitement. I can do without imagined catastrophes
as much as I can do without unremarkable and ubiquitous little
disasters in the kitchen.
Nevertheless,
there is one tangibility that surprises me continually: I'm alive!
Beyond expectations! Its just my private, personal little drama, and
whilst I acknowledge modern medicine for keeping me that way (it has
my thanks), I've also had my share of good fortune, health-wise. I
admit I'm an optimist, and very grateful for all the good things that
have come my way in life. Not that its been entirely a 'breeze', my
bits of pain and suffering have been real enough but there's not a
lot of comfort in being reminded that pain and suffering helps keep
me alive. Without pain and suffering how would one know to seek help?
As night follows day and effect follows cause, I accept that there
are well-worn paths on my genetic map to ensure most of life's
challenges are met full-on, not always for my personal convenience,
of course (genetic assets tend to look after themselves first).
The
Phenocracy does not see the most desirable outcomes in the same way.
Not satisfied with doing all that great work keeping us alive, making
life easier, so-called cutting-edge science as also progressive
thinkers, strive to stretch the boundaries of nature, ever
researching, reading the genetic road-map in order to bring us a
whole new world of surprises and dare I say drama. However, what
makes for 'real' is in danger of being submerged in a sea of bright –
very dark, really – ideas that suggests pain and suffering is not
all that necessary for life. The vision is of a life enjoyed in
uninterrupted joy and pleasure. If disappointed, no matter, VR will
provide the appropriate illusion at the touch of a button. It is well
within the capabilities of Homo sapiens, no
matter how hazardous or novel, to reconstruct outcomes for
maximizing pleasure without
pain. All can be altered to fit the ideal, but that 'ideal', so
called, is an abstraction.
With
so many options unavailable to other organisms, humans
have the capability to
conceive a vast variety of
means to achieve their chosen goals: “ . . . generally valuable in
a genetic sense, (this) also opens the door to something completely
novel and biologically hazardous: the ability to reconstruct life
strategies to maximize pleasures and minimize pains, whatever the
consequences for reproductive
fitness. When this kind of behavioral pattern begins to dominate the
organization of a human society, “phenocracy”, the rule of the
phenotype, is born.” Stephen
Balch believes life
in the West is rapidly being reorganized along just these lines.
The
Phenotype is a threat to humanity, he says, “because the
intellectual landscape of modernity is replete with 'phenotypicthinking'. The corollary is the drive for genetic success: but as
humans we are, far beyond any other creature, more than a function of
our genes. Phenocracy is not . . .simply a material matter –
satiated organisms parasitical on their genomes. It also has its
intellectual side, since inverted natural relations cry out for
justification. The intellectual landscape is replete with phenotypic
thinking”.
But
why worry over actual consequences? “There's a growing virtual
realm out there, phenocracy's new, endless frontier. While the
world of gaming hands out both victory and defeat, rewards and
punishments, its signature is riskless heroism, conquest without
courage, athleticism without injury, all the ups and few of the downs
of conflict and combat. Virtual endangerment fills a vacuum as
phenocratic societies become more and more risk averse - “GrandTheft Auto” for kids not allowed onto the street alone. “. .
. for those seeking lofty achievement pain and gain have been
inseparably joined. As “virtuality” supercedes reality,
phenocracy strips the first from the second. Does this build
character, stamina, grit? We'll know whenever the machine stops.”
