Over a pot of Darjeeling silver tips brewed a discussion of Evolution with good friend Drs. Shantanu & Sonali. Though in no way an equal discussion, them being trained and educated on the stuff, I was able to throw in some nice big words bluffing my way into making them talk and seemingly discuss evolution (it was more of a lecture).
But what came out was my understanding that this discussion was actually outstanding. I am quite surprised (or probably not well read) that this topic is NOT highly debated.
To keep it simple, our fore fathers (fore-mothers for the feminist) did not have many of the diseases we are facing now. That was because of a lack of medical science. If there was a diseased person, (s)he could not be cured, therefore (s)he died. That means the weakness died leaving the rest still physically strong.
Now that weakness is "cured". allowing the diseased genes to be preserved and passed on and also spread. The more cures are found the weaker we get. The adage of "survival of the fittest" is no longer true. The weaker are not only allowed but are helped to flourish. SO the gene pool instead of becoming stringer, due to evolution, is becoming weaker. Which is why man has taken onto himself to improve on nature as nature is no longer allowed to improve on itself !
Discovering genes and their effects and then manipulating them is no longer the stuff of fiction but a stark reality of our weakness.
Now my wife asked me, on hearing this surmise, will you forgo cure were you or your loved one be in need of one -- for the general good ? I do not have an answer. I am not great enough to take one for the civilization but being a human also means to be on the lookout for me, is that also not a survival instinct ? It is.
But the puzzle now is that in search of survival, the human kind is getting weaker diluting the genepool and making more weaker humans than stronger. If that is so, then it is not the survial of the fittest but SURVIVAL OF THE SCARED-EST. The more I am scared of being eliminated the more I work toward preserving myself, the more I work towards preserving myself, the more I have to lean towards medical science to preserve me which brings us back to Doctors.
So I am no longer able to make it black or white - Are the doctors good or evil ? I am inlined to lean both ways and will fall flat on my face right down the centre.
