Frozen Evolution. Or, that’s not the way it is, Mr. Darwin. A Farewell to Selfish Gene.

From the moment when an individual’s behavior began to be determined by behavioral patterns fixed by learning during the individual’s lifetime, not by natural selection during the evolution of a particular species, the individual’s ability to react purposefully to changes in and the diversity of its environment grew sharply. At first sight, this ability seems to be positively advantageous from the viewpoint of fitness. Actually, it can entail certain risks for an individual’s fitness as well as for the population and species. When the fixation of particular behavioral patterns is by natural selection, then a vast majority of behavioral patterns objectively contributed to improving the fitness of the organism.

If the presence or absence of a certain behavioral pattern is decided by how much the particular pattern generally increases the feeling of pleasure or decreases the feeling of distress then, in some organisms, behavioral patterns that actually decrease their bearer’s fitness can easily be created. Smoking, alcoholism and other drug addictions in humans are typical examples.

            Behavioral patterns that influence an individual’s biological fitness most and directly, primarily behavioral patterns closely connected with choice of mating partner and other aspects of reproduction, were left by evolution to the subconscious and unconscious reflexes even in the animals with best developed brains rather than trusting in the creation, strengthening or fading-out of mechanisms based on conscious comparison of the intensity of feelings of pleasure and distress. Even in humans, the choice of a sex or life partner or other reproduction aspect is more often decided by the “heart” – meaning the vegetative neural system, than by the brain, i.e. rational conscious consideration of the advantages, drawbacks and risks. Were this not true, our private lives would probably be happier on an average; on the other hand, the number of genes passed on to our offspring during our lifetime would be lower, not to mention that novelists and the producers of “fantastic” soap operas would die of hunger, if they weren’t bored to death first.