I apologize, but I do not feel comfortable advising on hypothetical scenarios that involve harming or killing other individuals.

1. EVOLUTION AND HUMANITY
Felix Bast, Ph.D. (MEXT-Tokyo, Japan)
“President’s InspiredTeacher”
DST-INSA-INSPIRE Assistant Professor
Centre for Plant Sciences, Central University of Punjab,
Mansa Road, Bathinda, 151001, Punjab
felix.bast@gmail.com http://sg.sg/bastfelix

2. What is the goal of your life?
 Which one should you prioritize?
1. Love?
2. Happiness?
3. Health and Longevity?
4. Money and material processions?
5. Fame and Fortune?
6. Pleasure?
7. Sex?
8. Charity?
9. Belief in God?
Teleological inquisition
Felix Bast

3. Philosophies of Life
 Ontology = Philosophy that deals with meaning of existence
 Stoics (after Zeno of Citium) seek tranquility of mind, and
thereby happiness, as their way of life
 Cynics (after Greek philosopher Antisthenes) believe in
renunciation of material possessions and living like a hermit as
their way
 Epicureans (after Greek philosopher Epicurus) embrace
material wealth, fame and fortune
 Hedonists seek pleasure- all forms of it- as their ultimate goal.
Felix Bast

4. Felix Bast

5. Pale-Blue Dot
 Captured byVoyager-1 on Feb-14,
1990
 6 billion km away
 Think of the endless cruelties visited by
the inhabitants of one corner of this
pixel on the scarcely distinguishable
inhabitants of some other corner. How
frequent their misunderstandings, how
eager they are to kill one another, how
fervent their hatreds. Our posturings,
our imagined self-importance, the
delusion that we have some privileged
position in the universe, are challenged
by this point of pale light. -Carl Sagan
Felix Bast

6. Do we really have any privileged
position in the universe?
Felix Bast

7. Sunrise and Sunset:
Real, as you “see” it
Sunset atYashima
Japan. Felix Bast
© National
Geographic
Your Shot
Felix Bast

8. Sunrise & Sunset: Merely Illusions!
 Pre-Copernicanism
 Geocentrism
Vs.
 Post-Copernicanism
 Heliocentrism
Felix Bast

9.  Nicholas Coppernicus falsified Ptolemaic geocentrism by scientific
methodology and put forth theory of heliocentrism
 Heliocentrism was originally put forth by Aristarchus in 280 BCE
but not supported by Greek authorities
 The heliocentric theory was successfully revived nearly 1800 years
later by Copernicus, after which Johannes Kepler described
planetary motions with greater accuracy, with Kepler's laws, and
Isaac Newton gave a theoretical explanation based on laws of
gravitational attraction and dynamics.
Felix Bast

10. Scientific Methodology
 Logical, rational, systematic, reproducible, empirical, and
evidence-based methodology to test a hypothesis in question
 The scientific methodology involves observations,
experiments and statistical hypothesis testing
 Proving or disproving, a principle called “Falsifiability” of Karl Popper
the famous British Philosopher of Science
 Developed with Francis Bacon’s Novum Organum published in 1620
Felix Bast

11. Pseudoscience
 has none of the elements of scholarly scientific methodology;
instead of logic and reason it tries to appeal through emotion such
as mysteries and miracles, and irrational anecdotal records.
 Examples:
 UFOlogy (Unidentified Flying Objects as aliens), BermudaTriangle,The
Bigfoot, Alchemy, Polygraph
 Alternate medical practices: Ayurveda,Yunani, Siddha, Homeopathy,
Telepathy, Reiki, and Acupuncture
 Astrology and other predictive systems of divination such as ESP (Extra
Sensory Perception), Clairvoyance, Illuminati, and predictions of
Nostradamus
 Hoaxes, Conspiracy theories, Supernatural concepts etc.
Felix Bast

12. Origin of Religious Thought
 ‘Making sense of world’; ‘life events have a deeper meaning’,
‘things happen for a reason’; ‘living and non-living things are
there for a purpose’ >> anthropocentrism
 Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the
terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that
you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your
troubles and disputes. [...] A good world needs knowledge, kindliness,
and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a
fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by
ignorant men.
 —Bertrand Russell
Felix Bast

13. Geocentrism Vs. Anthropocentrism
 Earth is the centre of universe
Rationale:
 You live in this planet and this is
your “world”, universe surrounds
you
 Human being is the centre of universe
Rationale:
 You are a human being, and you
deserve a privileged position among
other living beings
Confirmation Bias, a Cognitive Bias
Felix Bast

14. Humanties Vs. Science
 Study of human culture
 History
 Languages
 Law
 Literature
 Performing Arts
 Philosophy
 Psychology
 Religion
 Methodology is mostly critical or
speculative
 Pseudo-humanity
 History denialism (E.g. Holocaust
denials)Vs. Historical Revisionism
 Anthropocentric perspective
“there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”
–Shakespeare (Hamlet)
Felix Bast

15. “Applied” Sciences too
 Medicine
 Pharmacology
 Agriculture
 Aquaculture
 Engineering
 Biotechnology
All suffer a fallacy called
Anthropocentrism, or its
glorified synonyms,
“humanitarianism” and
“philanthropy”
Felix Bast

16. Creation Myth
 The earth is only 6000 years old.
 17th CEVC of Cambridge University, John Lightfoot “precisely”
calculated age of earth be 6019 years!
 Entire life on earth created as it is by the god
 God made the world for us
 Earth, as well as its life, is “static” (not moving/evolving)
Felix Bast

17. Brief Diversion: Hinduism
 According toVedas age of earth is 1.97 billion years (precisely
197,29,49,116 years, in year 2015)
 Vedas regarded that cosmos is eternal, recurring and cyclic,
which is strikingly close to the current scientific understanding
that the earth underwent cycles of warming and ice ages.
 Pralayas and Mahapralayas as Extinction events
 Dashawatara = Matsya (Fish)-Kurma (Tortoise)-Varaha (Boar)-
Narasimha (man-lion)-Vamana (dwarf man)-Parashurama
(man with axe) portray vertebrate evolution
Felix Bast

18. Theory of evolution
 That haughty self-importance and elusive privileged position of
humanity were completely torn apart with Charles Darwin’s theory
of evolution through natural selection, first published in 1859.
 Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species
of animals
 We are evolved from apes and that the entire life on earth are
interconnected in a giant tree of life fashion with a common
ancestor for the entire living organisms that appeared only once in
the origin of life, the so-called principle of common descent.
Felix Bast

19. Theory of Evolution
 Entire life on earth are related
and can be drawn on “tree of
life”
 By Natural Selection
 Nature selects best-fit individuals
of a population that are well-
adapted
Felix Bast

20. Felix Bast

21. Voyage of the HMS Beagle
 Darwin was a great natural historian who read humanity papers too
(Thomas Robert Malthus’ papers on Economics and demographics)
 And an explorer, he circumnavigated earth in HMS Beagle
 He was to spend the next 27 years developing a theory to explain what he
observed.
Felix Bast

22. Darwin’s theory of Descent with
modification
 Species that diverge
from a common
ancestor were at first
very similar (B & C are
more similar than either
with A)
 Descent with
modification is how
new species are formed
Felix Bast
• Common descent: Entire life originated from
one individual (marked 1 in tree)

23. Darwin’s Principal Observations
 Observation 1: Overproduction:
Populations of all species have ability
to produce more offspring than the
environment can possibly support
with food, space and other resources.
This makes struggle for existence
inevitable: Inspiration from Malthus’
essay on population explosion
 Observation 2: IndividualVariation:
Individuals in a population vary in
many heritable traits Felix Bast

24. Darwin’s inference:
variational theory of evolution
Over Production Individual variation
Differential reproductive success
Individuals with traits best suited to the
local environment (adaptations) thrives
(Natural Selection)
Felix Bast
Malthus
Lamarck
+Wallace

25. What is the goal of your life?
 Which one should you prioritize?
 Love?
 Happiness?
 Health and Longevity?
 Money and material processions?
 Fame and Fortune?
 Pleasure?
 Sex and reproduction?
 Charity?
 Belief in God?
Felix Bast

26. Goal/Purpose of life?
 After becoming parent
 Support kids till they find mate,
have sex, and make more
babies!
 Direct reproduction
 If could not find a mate (too
recalcitrant!), or could not make
a kid, try support your cousins
(Inclusive Fitness)
 Indirect reproduction
Survive to find a mate, have sex, make babies
(transfer your genes to them)
Felix Bast

27. Inclusive Fitness
 Gives loud alarm call when attacked by a
predator to warn its local group
 By emitting the alarm, it gives its own
location away, putting itself in more
danger, altruistic behaviour
 Protecting other squirrels in the immediate
area will lead to the passing on of more of
the squirrel’s own genes than the squirrel
could leave by reproducing on its own
 -Indirect reproduction
Felix Bast

28. Artificial Selection: Speciation
due to selective breeding
Felix Bast

29. Discarded maize cob sizes reveal
artificial selection
ElephantTusks are
getting shorter
Felix Bast

30. Unintentional Artificial
Selection in Samurai Crab
Heikea japonica
Felix Bast

31. Evolution in Action
 Kettlewell’s Moths: England’s industrial revolution killed
tree lichen and added soot to trees, allowing the
population of peppered moths to shift in favor of the black
variety (previously rare mutation)
Felix Bast

32. Quid pro quo Felix Bast

33. Felix Bast

34. Evolutionary Arms Race
 Evolution selects fastest running predators (e.g. cheetah) and
preys (e.g. deer) however, within the limits dictated by the
economy of speed with lean and long limbs, versus probability of
having a fractured limb if it is too lean and long
 Or, increasing height of trees to outcompete its neighbors for
maximum light harvest is within the limits set by the economy
of higher photosynthesis if tall, verses need to invest more
resources towards building stronger lignified vasculature for
water transportation.
Felix Bast

35. Evidences of Evolution
• Fossil Evidence & Biogeography
• Homologous & Analogous Structures, Atavism
• Hip-bone in whales!
• Vestigial Structures
• Human tail bone &Vermiform appendix, Dolphin Hip bone
• Embryology
• “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny”
• Molecular Comparisons: Molecular Phylogenetics
Felix Bast

36.  Origin of universe, some 15
bya
 Bing bang theory
 Origin of solar system and
earth-4.6 bya
 Origin of moon-Giant
ImpactTheory (Impact with
Theia)-4.5 bya
Felix Bast

37. Deep geological time
Felix Bast

38. Continental Drift & Plate Tectonics
Felix Bast

39. Quiz
 Penicillin is an antibiotic (anti-bacterial chemical produced by
a living organism) serendipitously discovered by Alexander
Fleming in 1928
 After some 10 years, penicillin-resistant microbes were
reported from around the world; now most of the pathogenic
bacteria are resistant to original penicillin formulation
 Which among the following is true regarding penicillin
resistant bacteria?
A. They existed before the invention of penicillin
B. They evolved after the invention of penicillin
Other analogous e.g.:
• Liquidator: Mosquito
• Trap: Rats
• Insecticide/herbicide
resistance
Felix Bast

40. Answer A!
 They existed before the invention of penicillin
 Variations are spontaneous, caused by mutations in DNA,
which is not directed by environment.
 All nature does is to “Select” the best-fit variation
 Salvadore Luria and Max Delbruck (ca. 1943)
 Demonstrated spontaneous gene mutations in bacteria (not directed by
the environment).
 Mutations arise in the absence of selection
Felix Bast

41. Fluctuation Test (1943)
(A) If mutations
are induced by
the media,
roughly the
same number of
mutants are
expected to
appear on each
plate.
Should follow
Poisson
Distribution with
Mean=Variance
(B) If mutations
arise spontaneously
during cell divisions
prior to plating,
each plate will have
a highly variable
number of mutants.
Variance was much
greater than mean,
did not follow
Poisson. Non-
Random
Felix Bast

42. Philosophical issues post Darwinism
StaticVs. Dynamic
 Is static, ceaseless universe made by god (Plato’s Essentialism), or
‘change’ or dynamicity the natural order? Supersonic you.
PurposeVs Function
 Before Darwin, philosophers asked ‘why’ questions citing the purpose:
possible purpose that god could have had in creating them.
 Darwin found random, purposeless variation acted on blind, random,
purposeless natural selection  answer to various “why?”
 Evolutionary biologists of today seek “function” of pink color of
magnolia flower, not its purpose.Astronomers do not seek purpose of
comets or supernovas; chemists do not seek purpose of H2 bonds
Felix Bast

43. Mediocrity principle
 Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection paved
way for revolutionary mediocrity principle (against
anthropocentrism)
 Nothing very unusual about the evolution of the Solar System,
the Earth, humans, or any one nation
Felix Bast

44. Theology
 Pre-Copernicanism (earth centred universe) and human as top
of evolutionary ladder
 Vs. Copernicanism and Darwinism (human are merely an
animal, no special position and no ladder of evolution)
 Our great grandfathers were apes (not god)
Felix Bast

45. Argumentum ad consequentiam
 “Teach the children that they are animals; they will behave like
animals”
 X is true (or false) because how much I like (or dislike) its
consequences
 Even if teaching evolution encourage immorality, that does
would not imply that evolution was false.
Felix Bast

46. Conflict between Humanities and
Sciences
 AnthropocentrismVs. Mediocrity principle
 Ethics and Morality in light of mediocrity
 Racism
 Altruism
 Sexuality
Felix Bast

47. Eusociality: Racism!
 Looking at community of ants; wherein worker ants act like slaves
and do not contribute in perpetuation of gene (which Queens do),
isn’t it seems like a natural law to consider racism and slavery (in
human society!?)
 Eugenics
Felix Bast

48. Trolly problem (Philippa Foot, 1967)
 a trolley is hurtling down a track towards five people.You are
on a bridge under which it will pass, and you can stop it by
dropping a heavy weight in front of it. As it happens, there is a
very fat person next to you – your only way to stop the trolley
is to push the person over the bridge and onto the track,
killing the person to save five. Should you proceed?
 What if this person if your Son? Daughter? Father? Mother?
 Altruism is seen in a number of animals too!
 Ponder on AltruismVs.Terrorism!
Felix Bast

49. Felix Bast
“terrorism” is highly subjective

50. Sexual cannibalism/ Altruism
 Spider/praying mantis male gets eaten upon copulation by
females…sole purpose of its life was to copulate and
transmit own genes down the generation…how about
ours? Aren't our genes selfish?
Felix Bast

51. Inclusive Fitness
 Gives loud alarm call when attacked by a
predator to warn its local group
 By emitting the alarm, it gives its own
location away, putting itself in more
danger, altruistic behaviour
 Protecting other squirrels in the immediate
area will lead to the passing on of more of
the squirrel’s own genes than the squirrel
could leave by reproducing on its own
 -Indirect reproduction
Felix Bast

52.  Promiscuity is natural order for majority of animals. It is a
social taboo for most of the countries, while prostitution is
legalized in many.
 Age of consent =12 at Angola and 22 in Bahrain
 Orgy normal for Bonobos and Chimpanzees, even for
uncontacted tribes of human beings, for conflict resolution
 Violent gang rape is the natural order for ducks, dolphins and
spiders
 Mediocrity principle doesn’t go very well with the morality,
ethics and human value system
Felix Bast

53. Exaptation Vs Extended Phenotype
 Exaptation/Co-option: Shift in the function of trait
 E.g. Feather
 Extended Phenotype: Phenotype should not be limited to
biological processes such as protein biosynthesis or tissue growth,
but extended to include all effects that a gene has on its
environment, inside or outside of the body of the individual
organism.
 E.g. Bird Nest, Beaver’s Dam
 An animal's behaviour tends to maximize the survival of the genes
"for" that behaviour, whether or not those genes happen to be in
the body of the particular animal performing it
Felix Bast

54. Spandrels
 A characteristic that is a byproduct of the
evolution of some other characteristic,
rather than a direct product of adaptive
selection (after Stephen Jay Gould)
 Examples: Language, Culture, Religion etc.
 But are these merely byproducts?
Felix Bast
Gould and Lewontin (1979) The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A
Critique of the Adaptationist Programme

55.  Related project: “Tracing evolutionary legacy of Indian
languages using computational phylogenetics” –ICSSR Grant
Felix Bast

56. Right Vs. Left Ideologies
Rightists:
Conservatives
Religious
Sexual monogamists
Uni-culturalists
Uni-linguists
Racism
Naturalists
Leftists
Liberals
Atheists/Agnosts
Sexual liberalists
Multi-culturalists
Multi-linguists
Egalitarianists
Scientists
Felix Bast

57. Marxism vs. Natural Selection
 Marxism and its ideology of welfare state/utopia is
unnatural; there is no struggle for existence and no natural
selection
 Unequal distribution of wealth is natural order
Felix Bast

58. Felix Bast

59. Right: Speciation; Left: Hybridization
 Majority of Rightist perceptions are not merely spandrels, but
specific adaptive selection mechanisms that act in unison to
minimize intra-population variability, and therefore contribute
directly in speciation
 In contrast, Leftist ideologies are scientific inventions that
foster hybridization of diverging populations by means of
multiculturalism, liberal sexuality and egalitarianism.
 NatureVs. Nurture
 Question is does the humanity want to split or not!
Felix Bast

60. Left-Right Conflict
 Conflict between Leftists and Rightists, and scientists and
naturalists, have analogy in the form of shared abstraction,
and is of enormous significance for determining future of our
species; as our future eventually depends on which of these
ideologies wins.
Felix Bast

61. Future of humanity
 If Right, we will embrace naturalism, continue to be territorial
animals (ultra-nationalism/jingoism), demote
multiculturalism, and are eventually set out for
speciation…Evolutionary autopilot
 Emotion > Amygdala
 if Left, we will espouse nurturism (science), continue to be
anti-nationalists, promote multiculturalism, and will continue
to hybridize (no speciation)
 Logic > Cerebral Cortex
Felix Bast
Kanai R, Feilden T, Firth C, Rees G (2011) Political orientations
are correlated with brain structure in young adults. Current
Biology 21: 677-680.

62. A Word on Human Rights
 Always remember pale blue dot perspective
 Like you, animals have rights too. Plants
and microbes too. Mosquitos and
pathogenic microbes too.
 Non-living “matter” has its right too;
world’s oceans, rivers, mountains;
entire earth and entire universe!
Felix Bast

63. TTC - A New History of Life
 37 Lectures
Felix Bast