“Money is what makes a man not funny”.

Just saw Niall Ferguson interviewed on the Colbert Report. He says “anything can be money”. True that. But I’d like to clarify what money is. Money is energy. If that sounds a little “New Age”, forgive me. I’ll give it legs. Wait. Let me stop real quick to eat a hand-full of nuts.

…2 minutes later.

Ah, that’s better. You see, I can’t think straight if I’m too hungry. The little mouse in the wheel in my brain doesn’t have enough energy to run. So I need to eat - recharge the batteries with food. And food, is of course, energy. Not just “converted to energy”, it is energy. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity states that mass and energy are interchangeable. In the example of food, let us not forget that the food we eat is digested and broken down into sugars which act as a sort of fuel for our bodies. Coincidentally, fuel is a form of energy… How do we get food? How do we get fuel? We buy it, with money, which is energy. 100,000 years ago there were no grocery stores and no gas stations. So, people had to hunt and gather for food. And they had to gather dried wood to burn fires. And you bet they were hungry after all that hunting and gathering. Damn straight. All that work takes a lot of energy… They didn’t have money, but they had energy (which they got from food, which is also energy). Manual labor is energy. Farmers harvest crops and then sell them to me for money. I would harvest them myself, but I don’t have the energy or the time. Now time is not energy. It is a forum where energy plays out it’s roll - a stadium, if you will, where energy sings its set of rock ballads. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, money.

Money is Energy
People constantly fight over money. Coincidentally, they also always fight over energy, over power. There is a never-ending and continuous power struggle going on in the world. All human interactions on every scale are ultimately power struggles, fights for energy. They become harmonious when the parties involved both perceive they are getting more energy than they are putting into it. And it’s entirely possible that both parties are getting “richer”. Life is not a zero-sum game. But if one or both parties perceive they are losing energy, a fight will ensue. Don’t believe me? Try this. Guys: don’t go to work for the next month. And gals: don’t cook dinner for the next month. If you’re horribly offended by these two stereotypical examples from 1953, feel free to substitute anything you do with regularity that your spouse or partner relies on. It won’t take long before your significant other brings this failure to your attention. If it lasts too long, you’ll get a fight - a fight over commitment and responsibilities. But what lies underneath is energy. If you don’t go to work, there is no money and the two of you will take a step back in life. Why? Because money is energy and you are trying to accumulate (and then dissipate) energy. If dinner is not cooked, then you may not eat. If you do not eat, then you lose energy… Get it? So both parties are trying to gain energy and rely on the other to help them along. Otherwise, why are you together? You may very well enjoy each other’s company, but once the courting phase is through and the deal is sealed, the work begins. And just like in a business, if the one party is not living up to the agreement, there will be an issue. And relationships ultimately have lots of issues. That’s OK. The good relationships get those issues resolved.

Everything is energy
I’m not going to pretend to be a physicist, but most accounts seem to agree that matter (excluding the dark kind) is made up of molecules, which are made up of atoms, which are made up of particles, and on and on until you get to these ridiculous scientific entities like quarks and shit. For more info, see here. Fah sho, there is much the average person does not know about physics, yet physics governs everything you do. Ultimately you can’t understand yourself until you understand physics. And I am sad to say, we will probably never really understand physics. It’s just too complicated. It dangles on the outskirts of human intelligence. The smartest motherfuckers in the world don’t understand physics completely - and they’re physicists. No matter. (Pun was not intended, but it just goes to show: there are some freebies in the universe). The point is, everything you do is somehow tied to the Laws of Physics. It’s just a question of connecting the dots from The Laws of Thermodynamics to “buying a lottery ticket”.
Tis true that everything (ie, matter) is equal to energy only through the eyes of Relativity, not Newtonian physics. But try throwing out the distinction and looking at everyday things as if it were energy. What do we “have” which could be thought of as energy, or even as money? What things, other than money or goods, can be valuable? Think about this: Money is only valuable in relation to what you can do with it. It’s just paper. Gold is the same. Everything is the same. If you have a million dollars in the bank and then inflation goes up 10,000%, you can no longer do much with that million. So the value is not inherent in anything, the value is in the ability to do something with it. Nothing has value unless you can do something with it*.   The value of money (or anything) is strictly related to your ability to dissipate energy with it.  And you can dissipate energy with money, but also with other things. Let’s take a look at some more energy dissipaters…

Thoughts
Yes, some good thoughts are worth money. A good idea may be worth money. In effect, the song American Pie was nothing more than a “good thought”. Keith Richards, and numerous other artists, claim that songs just “come to them” - they “found them”, or God writes them and they just heard it from him. Like finding a pretty stone on the beach. That stone may be worth money. So is the riff to Satisfaction. In that sense we see a thought as having value, having energy.

Thinking styles
Thinking style can be very valuable. It is shown that certain ways of thinking lend themselves to greater output and effectiveness. And yes, an effective thinking style is something you can acquire. Something you can invest in - put energy into in hopes to get more energy back. And something you can transfer - both positive and negative thinking styles will rub off on those around you. These italicized words ringing any bells? That translates to green, my friend.

Belief systems
An empowering belief system also pays well these days. The belief system that includes “you can accomplish anything you put your mind to” won the editor’s choice award over long-time rival “life’s a bitch and then you die”. Believing one over the other will have a profound effect on your effectiveness. This belief system is not tangible, yet it translates into tangible things: money, a good job, a good relationship, a good life. What’s more, it’s one of the few things of value you can pass on to future generations which is not taxed. Think of it: invest now in an empowering belief system and watch your value (your GPP) go up and you can treat it as a tangible asset which can be passed on to your kids (kids largely take on the belief system of their parents) so they can enjoy the benefits as well.

Status
Have status will travel. Any son of a former president can attest to this. Status, just like any other form of energy, can be increased or it can be wasted. Win the World’s Strongest Man contest and your status will increase, and you’ll be able to do more. Doors will open up for you, people will buy you dinner, athletics companies and shampoo brands will offer you sponsorships. All these perks serve one goal only…(dissipating energy - just checking in case you are totally missing the theme of this article, and website…). Get caught backstage injecting steroids with your Swedish rival Hans and your status may fade.

Location
Locations too have energy. You can do more in New York City than in Muncie, Indiana. And big cities dissipate tons of energy. By the sheer fact of being in a city, you have more value than by being in the middle of nowhere. Want to increase your wealth? Take a bus to New York. I always feel great to go to a city and feel re-charged when I leave. There is so much going on and you feel the power and the vibe and you feel like you can do anything. And indeed, you have a better chance of doing anything in a big city.

Now there is a slight twist to this: being in the majestic arms of nature also feels good. It feels good because there is a lot of energy being dissipated and you feel connected to it. It is indeed a spiritual feeling. You may not be doing the dissipating, but it’s happening all around you…and it’s wicked cool.

Potential vs Kinetic Energy
As you may recall from 8th grade science class, energy takes on two forms: potential energy, energy being used; and kinetic energy, energy stored up waiting to be used. The examples above are all potential energy - they give you possibilities to dissipate more energy but they do not necessarily do so. What still bothers me in this whole theory is the transferability of it all. See, in life, you dissipate energy, then you die. Money can sit in a bank account as potential energy, and when you die, it will maintain its energy level. Thoughts and belief systems too can be transferred to the people around you. They can be transferred to your children, and in that sense, they too maintain their energy level. But what if you have thoughts with high energy levels but die before you do anything with them? Is the energy gone? Can’t be. Energy can’t disappear, it can only be transferred. Sure, you will rot, and that’s an exercise in energy dissipation, but you will not rot any better than someone with dumb ideas. Any help out there? I’ll try to answer my own question. All these things have a certain potential value, but since something is only valuable to the extent that you can do something with them, they hold little value at the moment they are in your head. Taking them to the outside world is when they really gain value. Maybe that’s why it’s such a “high energy process” to write, or to share your thoughts with someone. They’re all nice and safe in your head, but the real guts come from bringing them into the world. I was very nervous the first time I wrote a blog article. It felt very strange and vulnerable. But my thoughts gained value once they were shared**.

Ergo, money is everything. To say that money is simply an exchange for goods or services is missing the real story. If thoughts and skills could be transferred with money, they would be. You may freak out at the idea of “downloadable mind-sets” 200 years from now where high school basketball players can upload Michael Jordan’s game face, ie his set of thoughts as he plays. As technology progresses, the distinction between energy and money will slowly disappear. We all can imagine a time in the not-so-distant future when money disappears all together, and a new form of currency will have to take its place and the value of everything will be determined by how effectively it will dissipate energy.

* That Picasso hanging on my wall is valuable since I get to look at it. And somewhere in the process of evolution, someone deemed this a high-energy activity

** Yes, we can all debate the actual value of these thoughts. Remember, “good and bad” are fictitious connotations. There is only valuable and invaluable. Some thoughts may be good but if nothing is done with them (maybe nothing can be done with them) then they have no value, even if they are pulled out of your head and into the world.

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There are some people who would see every element of humanity as a result of natural selection. Currently, I am one of them. If something is unexplicable in terms of natural selection, I will simply assume all that is missing is a good explanation and some supporting data to show that it probably does exists as a result of natural selection. “Opposable thumb?” Good for climbing trees and grasping tools. “Language?” Great way to communicate with members of the group who you are probably working with to help proliferate common genes. “Consciousness?” Ahh, that holiest of human traits. “There’s this being and it can wonder,” my high school ethics teacher would proclaim. “Only humans have consciousness” he would boast. And whether he is right or not is not something I’m prepared to go into at the moment. But what I will attempt here is to tie consciousness with evolutionary theory.

There is much discussion surrounding consciousness. The scientists will address it on a neural level and the New Agers describe it on a metaphysical one. They speak of “higher consciousness”, implying that it is not a black and white state but more a leveled one. Their language remains vague and superficial. Even the evolutionary biologists and psychologists are at a loss to explain consciousness. They have no data to support its existence. “Everything humans do could be done without consciousness”. But I have a hard time believing that.

Why Consciousness?
Why should consciousness grow and evolve? As Dr. Robert Ornstein ponders in his book “The Evolution of Consciousness”, “why should human beings ever have evolved the ability to know what their mental systems are doing, any more than we know what our pancreas is doing?” He believes that we actually do not have the ability to know what our mental systems are doing. But I would content that the clear motivation for consciousness is its ability to improve the workings of your mind. I can’t improve how my pancreas works through thought (aside from the general health benefits of positive thinking). But I can improve how my mind works through thought. Look at how many people are interested in how their mind works. We don’t just think about it: we read about it and take courses on it. Every human has at least an instinctive minimal interest in how his brain works and if the things he is thinking are in line with reality.

Unlike organs like the pancreas, our minds are the only body part involved in cultural evolution. An evolving consciousness allows us to better adapt to our cultural environment. Our brain has stopped evolving on an individual level, but without consciousness, we would not be able to evolve on a group level. Just as the biological world has genetic winners and losers, so does the cultural world. Those best able to succeed on a cultural landscape hold a better chance of passing on their genes. And it is consciousness which is the key adaptation to facilitate this success.

Our brains must have the ability to evolve culturally. And this ability is consciousness. And we have been evolving on a cultural level for some time now. Most scientific accounts will end biological evolution about 10,000 years ago. Cultural evolution, this is: humans learning from each other, passing on information to each other, and working together in social groups, has been going on for hundreds of thousands of years. And it is that overlap in which consciousness, as a biological part of the brain, evolved.

If we’ll assume that consciousness is an adaptation, ie a result of evolution, then here we will try to work backwards to the possible cause. Though we like to think of our motives as noble and dignified, especially in light of cultural evolution, let’s not forget that cultural evolution is simply a group-level extension of biological evolution, whose sole purpose is procreation, so we start our thought experiment with sexual strategies. We’ll start with a set of observations and conclusions, and we’ll address men and women separately since their GPSs are so different. (read more on GPS here). And for clarification, when we talk about men and women, we are actually referring to them as they were 10,000 years ago - since this is the time for which their brains and bodies were built.

Men
To generalize, there are several types of men in the world. Please refer to the GPS article to get more details on each. But suffice to say here that while some men play more on the physical level of GPSs, being the dominant male in a group and physically controlling the pool of available females, other men have been forced into less dominant positions and have had to be creative in their pursuit of females to mate with. It is widely agreed that the speed of human evolution, particularly that of our intellect, in the last hundred thousand years or so is largely attributed to intra-species competition (man against man) rather than interspecies competition (man against tiger). In my article “Why Your Girlfriend has Such Bad Taste in Music“, I discuss the predicament weaker males have found themselves in during the course of human development and the options that were made available to them in the form of technology and culture. In this respect consciousness in males can be seen as “thinking outside the box”. The ultimate question to be answered being “how can I get these chicks to sleep with me”? The dominant males don’t need to ask this question. But the weaker males who were best able to step outside their own biological patterns and develop new ways of thinking and doing which helped or united their community were awarded rank and prestige, the cultural equivalent of strength, and thereby were able to acquire mates. One could conclude that these weaker males are born with a higher consciousness than their physically stronger counterparts.

Women
Whereas men use consciousness as a vehicle for status in the group, women have developed consciousness for other reasons. Consciousness in women can perhaps in part be seen as the proverbial “women’s intuition”. Indeed women do have a heightened awareness of their surroundings beyond that of men. My wife may buy a new vase for the living room which will escape my radar for days. Women posses a great attention to detail in their surroundings. Evolutionary psychologists conclude that this mystical sensory perception developed as women needed to know if their suitors were lying to them - falsifying their credentials, as it were. It is no surprise that women choose men who are either of high genetic quality, ie good looking, or who can support them using various resources, such as money or status. The former is hard to fake, while the latter is somewhat easier. Pretending to be a man of wealth and status is a treasured pastime for many men. So is lying about one’s commitment to a woman. Women have hence developed intuitions to help them cut through male BS. Also, while it is more commonly known that men compete with each other, women also compete with each other for the most “attractive” men, but they do so not with aggression but rather with more subtle and social tactics such as gossip, backstabbing, and “mind games”. It takes a sharp wit to play on that field, and evolution has helped women right along by developing their senses for greater awareness of their environment. This seems to be the seed of conciousness in women.

With this logic, you might see consciousness is an adaptation. Everyone has it, but similar to IQ or running speed, not all people are born equal. Some people are born with a greater capacity for consciousness and others with a lesser capacity. If you think of consciousness as any other physical attribute (or mental one for that matter), just as a person may be built with strong arms but does not exercise, he may still be weaker than someone who was built with weaker arms but trains regularly. By the same token, a person may be born with a high capacity for consciousness, but may have less of a conscious life than someone who was born with less capacity for consciousness but who regularly…yes, practices.

Practicing consciousness
You can practice consciousness. Buddhist monks have done it for ages, and now the mainstream public is seeing the mental and physical benefits of meditation and mindfulness. We learn, we reflect, we ponder, and it all raises our level of consciousness. We can step out of the car for a minute and kick the tires, check the oil, etc. This is the great gift to be gotten from therapists and coaches - they are consciousness trainers and, just as a fitness instructor at your local gym, they will pump up your self-awareness muscles. Before you know it, you will have a clearer idea of who you are, what you are doing, and why you are doing it. These being some obvious benefits of consciousness.

The burden of consciousness
But consciousness isn’t all roses. Consciousness for many is experienced as a burden. Think “self-conscious”. Being constantly aware of the world and yourself in it can create a level of fear, insecurity, and alienation in an individual. The head cases in the world are often the most conscious individuals. The ones who seemingly glide through life are often less conscious of their surroundings and of themselves. So, how then is consciousness a benefit worthy of passing through natural selection? Sadly it does not always work out to be a benefit. If consciousness is an adaptation mean to help groups evolve, they why are the most conscious people usually the outcasts of a group? We can understand how a normal degree of consciousness is necessary for minimal creativity and innovation, but are high levels of consciousness worth the added weight? High consciousness can lead to loads of self-doubt and insecurity and those with a very conscious mind often find it hard to relate to others. Indeed high levels of consciousness were probably not favored 10,000 years ago. It was only when art, culture, technology, and innovation became worthy displays of power that highly conscious individuals found their niche. Consciousness is like big stick you have to carry around. If you don’t know how to use it and you may not enjoy your experience with it. But if you know how to use it, understand it, and can take advantage of it, you’ll enjoy the benefits.

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Yes, a new term only a Quanologist could come up with. GPP - Genetic Proliferation Potential. GPP is a variable which obviously denotes an individual’s potential in genetic proliferation. For those of you just joining us, here’s a bit of background.

As nature sees it, we are here to pass on our genes. There are different ways to do this - some men sleep around, some men are loyal fathers, some women seek the support of multiple men, and some women seek out one man for a long-term relationship. It’s all part of the Universe. But in this quest for genetic proliferation, some are better equipped than others. It would be silly to imagine a race involving everyone on the planet and thinking they all have the exact same chance of winning. The fact is, some people are born with a higher potential for genetic proliferation than others, BUT the good news is that people can develop a higher potential within their lifetimes. So, your GPP is not stable but varies from time to time.

What are the factors?
Again, for those of you who are new to Quanology, evolution works on different levels. Biologically we pass on our genes directly through our offspring, and indirectly through our genetic relatives. Culturally we can pass on our genes on a slightly vaguer, those more expansive level, by our thoughts, beliefs, and cultural and technical contributions. Therefore, our ability to breed, to parent, to care for our relatives, and to contribute to society all factor into our GPP. And what attributes are therefore necessary to accomplish these things.

No man is an island. It is often hard to say where one individual ends and another begins. It would be all too simplistic to think we function alone in the world. I’m sitting on a train right now built by someone else and driven by someone else. The laptop I’m typing on was made in some far off land in a factory by a group of workers. But these things are tied to me right now. They are at my disposal and I use them to my own devices. They are not a part of me physically, but they contribute to my effectiveness on this planet, ie my genetic proliferation. We will also use the term “resources” to describe anything which is available to an individual for his/her use.

Resources can be anything. These are all considered resources:

• physical attractiveness
• physical strength
• athleticism
• money
• property
• family
• ideas
• power
• psychological capacity (ie, consciousness, awareness, creativity, rationalization, perspective, positivism, etc)
• intelligence (in the traditional sense)
• talents
• mind set (ie, drive, motivation, confidence, etc)
• knowledge
• skills
• social standing & personal network
• technical ability
• artistic ability

All these things should be seen as resources since all contribute to genetic proliferation. Somethings may help out more in certain environments, so obviously a person can have a higher GPP in one environment than in another environment. In the western world, for instance, artistic ability can get you further than say, in the Middle East. So the weighted sum of your resources in relation to the characteristics of your surroundings adds up to be your GPP. The cool thing is, GPP is passed on and developed over generations, just as genes themselves are. Raising your knowledge on a certain subject should improve your children’s chances of also being knowledgeable on that subject. Making the investment to increase your knowledge is similar to putting money in the bank to let it be passed on down to future generations (and it’s not taxed!). Of course, somehow lowering your resource level in some area will also be passed on. Squander $1 million in your lifetime and it obviously cannot be passed down to future generations. Squandering a good mind set in your lifetime will similarly ensure that a good mind set will not be passed down to your children.

The moral of this story? Realize that resources are all around you and you have many different means to help you be successful. And be conscious of the fact that everything you do is an investment in your resources and as with any investment, there is potential gain and potential loss. Both will be passed down the genetic ladder.

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Here, we’ll discuss why Michael Jordan and Eminem are smart, but their IQs might not reflect this. Who cares about intelligence anyway? What you want is to succeed in life. This article will explain that you have to be intelligent to succeed, but you don’t need a high IQ. And since there are an infinite number of ways of succeeding, there is an infinite number of intelligence definitions. And of course, we cannot measure success without knowing what it is. If intelligence is the extent to which someone is successful (not their capability to be successful), then we must define what success is before we can say if someone is intelligent. In this sense, we are working backwards - taking a result and concluding on the intelligence of the individual instead of the current paradigm which tests the individual and applies a degree of intelligence based on their score. A score which no one should care about unless we are correlating IQ with success, ie predicting success on the basis of IQ test scores.

Potential for Success vs Actual Success

Why is intelligence correlated with acheived success and not capacity to acheive success? IQ tests will measure your capacity to do something - not what you’ve already done, so our new definition adds that extra element of achievement. But why? The logic is, nature does not reward talent, it rewards acheivement. There are two kinds of energy - potential and kinetic. But as you know from 8th grade science class, only kinetic energy is actually dissipating - doing what nature wants it to do. So, we define success based on what nature wants for you. If you have talent and have done nothing with it, then you are lacking somewhere. It goes against nature to have unused talents and it is very much an ability, or a capacity to convert talents into actual achievement. We get annoyed at successful people with little talent, but the fact is, they have the most important talent of all - the ability to acheive. So, it’s part of the equation here. Nature does not care about potential, so why put it in your definition of intelligence? The new paradigm is: we all have the same level of potential. Or to be more specific: any differences we have in terms of potential success are insignificant. I’m not saying all men are created equal, I’m saying all men have relatively the same potential for success. Of course, if actual achievement is figured into the calculation for intelligence, it implies that your intelligence level is not static, since your success level is not static. Indeed it is not - one might have a real string of “intelligent years” only to succumb to lesser intelligent years down the road. Success comes and goes and everything in the universe is in motion - how could your intelligence level stay the same?

The Scientific Definition of Success

Right, so what is success? Success is defined by how well a system dissipates energy. Period. All other definitions are simply anecdotal or are in some way derivative of this. Look at any situation - human, or otherwise - and this definition can be applied, though it won’t always be immediately obvious.  This is why we can say that we all have relatively the same potential for success. All systems deal with energy and The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the energy of any system is dissipating - ie the order is decreasing. A classic example is an ice-cube melting. Energy is dissipating when the ice becomes water. And the ice cube is successful (yes, there are successful ice-cubes) to the extent that it melts. The faster it melts, ie the faster it moves from a state of order to a state of disorder, the more successful it is. This obviously must be translated to the human experience. Here we go.

The Human Definition of Success 

Why are you on this earth? Why do humans exist? People have been pondering these questions as long as anyone can remember and the answers seem to all be incomplete. I would be silly to think this conclusion should be different, but I’ll take a stab at it anyway.  To keep it simple, I’ll start at the top of the hierarchy (human drives) and move down the ladder (energy dissipation).

3. Human level - what do humans want to do? Pass on their genes

2. Gene Level - why do genes want to be passed on? This is simply one way for them to dissipate energy - by organizing themselves into complex structures which fit into complex low-energy environments or holes. Think of evolution as a system to create keys for an infinite number of key holes. Fitting into a key hole would be how the energy is dispersed, so species mold themselves into the shapes of keys which will fit into the key holes. The other way for genes to dissipate energy is to die and decompose. This is coincidentally our other big goal in life. But since life dissipates energy better than death, most of us try to hold out as long as we can. Evolution is like a pool of water cut off from the ocean. Eventually a series of streams find their way to the ocean.  Imagine a virtually infinite number of streams and each little stream is like a form of life. Genes are made of matter too and the same behavior seen by the water can be seen by all living things. We’re all just trying to make it to the ocean.

1. Energy level - why does energy want to be dissipated? If you believe the Big Bang Theory (and we’re pretty much booking on it here), then a long time ago the universe was concentrated into a very tiny tiny space. That was the pinnacle of energy concentration and when it exploded, the energy began dispersing itself. Another visual is that of a swig of milk being poured into a hot cup of coffee. The milk is initially concentrated into one spot and slowly starts dispersing itself through the remainder of the cup. The paths it takes will be varied but you can be assured that it will always move from an area of high concentration to low concentration. That’s just how the universe is set up.

Though we are biologically here to pass on our genes, I am not implying that the most successful people are the ones with the most children and grandchildren. Evolution is not quite that simple. As stated in the article GPS - Genetic Proliferation Strategy, one can pass on their genes in other ways besides procreation. Cultural evolution has broadend the definition of success by associating culture and collective thought with biological gene pools - allowing artists, thinkers, leaders, and atheletes to be successful beyond their procreative efforts. Success now includes rushing for 2000 yards in a season or winning the Nobel Prize. No one would have cared 20,000 years ago, and even if they did, no future generations would have remembered. Success means fulfilling the goals of both biological and cultural evolution - with a noticable favor towards cultural evolution. This is why we value celebrities over good parents.

The Goals of  Biological & Cultural Evolution

And what are the goals of biological and cultural evolution? Here’s another bulletted list

Biological:

- Main goal: conceive and raise children who are in state to do the same and whose children too are in state to do the same (ie, raise a family and/or have lots of sex)

- Main goal, second best: help facilitate the above goal for members of the same gene pool and bearing that, a closely related gene pool (ie, contribute to society)

- Supportive goal: amass resources to help you in the above two goals (ie, get rich, strong, and popular)

Cultural:

 - Contribute to a belief system, since belief systems help unite individuals towards their common goal: genetic proliferation. Look closely and you’ll see that statistically, people who have followed religions have been more successful, according to the definitions of biological evolution, than those who have not. Indeed, the family that prays together stays together. And there is strength in numbers. Atheists, be they right or not, are all alone - just take a look at the US electorate.

- Create art. It is the artists of societies who have been able to pull the emotional puppet strings of the people. They are nothing more than psychological drug dealers. Our brains are set up to be emotionally manipulable. Just look at your teenage kid in his room all day listening to System of a Down. In a sense they have been able to gain a slight control over people in a society and thereby unite others to their own ends. Atheletes are in here too. Don’t tell me Roger Federer isn’t a painter. Everybody loves an artist - even a bad one. The good ones are the most revered members of society. 

Being Intelligent Means Being Successful 

With these being the goals and their achievement being “success”, intelligent beings are thusly the ones who actually achieve them. There may be a rapper out there as good as Eminem, but if he doesn’t get noticed and has to keep working at Burger King, it will be because he was less intelligent. Sure, luck plays a part in many instances, but statistically over the breadth of the population, intelligence is translated as success and success is a reflection of intelligence. There may be another tennis player as talented as Roger Federer but it is Federer’s psychology, his intelligence which have gotten him the results. And notice how his intelligence developed. He used to be a head case who was hot and cold on the courts - but in recent years he’s found the psychological plane to allow him to be hot most of the time.

So no more discussing how some people have book smarts and others have emotional intelligence or social intelligence, or whatever the flavor-of-the-month definition is, and that we’re all different. The truth is, some people are intelligent and others are not, but we all can be intelligent. Thankfully nature has left us many different ways to be intelligent, many paths we can take to get to that ocean. Some will involve using our emotions effectively and some will involve brute psychological force. Both are intelligent if both are successful. So, don’t be fooled by your IQ scores. If you’re successful in terms of the ways defined here, then you’re intelligent. If you’re not all that successful as per the definitions above, then your intelligence is lacking. The beauty of it all is, by means of study, practice, focus, and a good psychology, you’re in complete control.

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Be forewarned, for those looking for some new romantic, intangible definition of this deified emotion, this article will leave you with a sneer. The definition of love is so clear in my head, that I can hardly imagine the time when it wasn’t - when pop songs trying to crystallize it would almost make sense to me. I used to love those songs. Now I can only think about how the singer has no idea what he’s talking about. Indeed I too wear a sneer.

The Moral Animal 
A book on evolutionary psychology called The Moral Animal changed my life.  It convinced me how all-powerful and all-encompassing the drive to pass on one’s genes is. Everything we do is somehow directed to passing on our genes. If we really are a product of evolution, how could it be otherwise? If we look at any and every living thing on the planet, we easily agree that their sole purpose is to pass on their genes. Why would it be different with us? Because we are conscious beings? It took billions of years for humans to develop from lower life forms. Conscious thought is relatively new.

Reproductive Strategies 
So, part of the definition of love requires us to look at our reproductive strategies and see what mechanisms would help us attain the goals implicit in these strategies. We pass on our genes through reproduction. Sounds obvious, but there is a twist to it outside the scope of this article (read the Moral Animal for more). Reproduction has two parts to it - conceiving children and raising them. Love is the motivational drug that is present in both of these parts to ensure we partake in conceiving (romantic love) and raising children (parental love). Sure sex feels good, and that’s obviously another adaptation to ensure we have lots of sex, but attraction is the seed of love, and there will be no sex without attraction - no matter how good sex feels. Think of the most unattractive, repulsive member of the opposite sex you can imagine, and then think about engaging in sex with them. Who’s winning out here: your brain or your genitalia?…. OK, let’s move on.

Love vs Attraction 
Attraction is low-level, potentially short-term love. It can blossom into love, or it can fade minutes after the person starts talking. Love, is the more committed, long-term version, where, not only do you want to have sex with this person, you want to see the resulting children grow up. (Remember, to our 10,000 year-old bodies and the Catholic Church, there is no sex without children). And that’s why love is there. It’s your attorney signing the papers for you. It commits and legal binds you to this partnership. If we didn’t have love, then we would just be a species who produces herds of children, but feels no duty to raise them. Some animals can get away with churning out children who somehow make it far enough in life to propagate the species, but not us - which is why I don’t sleep in on Sunday mornings.

Real love
Van Halen’s song “How will I know when it’s love”. It’s when the decision has been made and your body has committed to it. You focus completely on the good things and foresee all the bad. The cap off the toothpaste goes completely unnoticed as you grab her toothbrush and imagine that it’s some romantic way of kissing her when she’s not even there. That’s love. You’re no longer in the “let’s think about it and test this guy/girl out” phase. Something solidifies in your brain, some set of chemicals join and become fixed, setting up a group of thought patterns and neural pathways which are all but impossible to deviate from. Doesn’t matter what your friends or family say. You become intensely focused. Which is why you start to hear love songs everywhere and take in these romantics lyrics as if they were scripture. Just like when you decide to buy a new car and you start seeing that car everywhere on the road where you hadn’t really noticed it before. You start to think about marriage and spending the rest of your life with this person. Indeed this is what nature had programmed you to do (among other things).

That’s not to say it will work out. HA! You may break up within months and be in love again shortly thereafter, but, rest assured, you were in love then. You just didn’t succeed. Like a lioness who commits to catching a zebra and fails after a 200 yard sprint. She’s upset and discouraged, but she’ll be back soon - she’ll have to be. And you too will commit again someday.

So, now you know
If you are a romantic, do not be disparaged by this scientific definition of this wondrous emotion. Does it make it any less exciting or beautiful? I love my wife, love my kids, love my family. Now I know where it comes from, and it’s only more fascinating and glorious. It’s as beautiful as a sunset, as a tree, or a work of art - all of these are part of this incredible universe. There is not one thing more beautiful than another.

That’s just my opinion though, maybe I’m way off.

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We hereby define a new term used to describe our “strategy” in life. Are you a giver, a taker, a lover, a fighter, macho guy, sensitive guy, Madonna, slut, etc - it’s all really your GPS.

If evolutionary psychologists are right - and they do seem to be gaining credibility and attention these days - then our personalities are largely endowed to us by Mother Nature during the process of evolution. In fact, your personality is simply an adaptation created and managed to help you navigate your environment and successfully proliferate your genes.

Notice we talk about a gene proliferation strategy - not a sexual strategy. We all have a sexual strategy (and not the “ok, you go up to her and start talking then I bust in after like 10 seconds and ask you if you want a drink and then I’ll just ask her and her friend if they want something to drink, and then we’re in”), but this is a subset of our gene proliferation strategy.

To explain - we do not need to have sex to proliferate our genes. Sure, we largely prefer it, but because our genes are also in our family members, expanding the gene pool goes beyond sex, and even child rearing, to encapsulate altruism and good old-fashioned brotherly love. My aunt has never had children but in a way, she ensures that her genes get passed on by giving me 20 bucks on my birthday. That’s part of her gene proliferation strategy but has nothing to do with reproduction.

Let’s explore the gene proliferation strategy.

Lots of personality
We are an expansive species. So much variation in our gene pool - unlike crocodiles; they’re pretty much all the same. But there are all kinds of people, personality-wise. And this variation, this range of personalities, was simply developed to allow humans to expand as a species. One sort of person can live within a range of environmental circumstances and another sort of person can live under a slightly different range of environmental circumstances. Put all the different personalities together and we’re covering a good bit of environmental circumstances. And indeed humans are doing well. We’re friggin’ everywhere and it is the variations of our personalities which have allowed us to do so.

And just what are the various personalities? I guess we all know them, but they remain tricky to define. Jung called them “archetypes”. You’ve got dominant people, meek people, introverts, extroverts, friendly, hostile, emotional, stoic, principled, loose, athletic, awkward, etc etc. These traits are largely inherited but nature has given you some flack to play around with. Shy? You can develop yourself to be less shy. But in the end, your genetic proliferation strategy will be in line with that of a shy person.

To understand the strategies, we must first take a look at the “game”. Relating this to football - there’s no point in explaining the strategy of “passing to the side lines when there’s little time on the clock and you’re down” if you don’t know what those 22 people are doing on the field in the first place. So, take a step back to understand what we’re doing on this planet.

Right. I’ll try to keep it short and completely remove any philosophical, religious, or existential underpinnings and start from the level of biology. We are on this planet to proliferate our genes. No other reason. Everything we do is somehow related to this. Go to work, go to school, have sex, raise children, pick your nose, jog a mile, drive a car, go skiing, even taking drugs is related somehow to gene proliferation. You may not understand how smoking pot contributes to gene proliferation, and it is indeed a stretch, but rest assured, it does. Note: I do not encourage anyone to smoke pot - especially if it’s shwag and you got it from a sketchy source.

But if we can continue in agreement with this goal, all this does seem to fit together. So, genetic proliferation is the game, and we each need to play a role in that. Some do it by raising a family, some do it by promiscuous and commitment-free sex, some do it by joining the priesthood. And all of these options can be seen as strategies - strategies which are linked to certain personalities in order to execute them. Obviously, it takes a certain type of person to do any of the aforementioned. And each one of us can take a look at ourselves and match up the way we are and the things we do with possible genetic proliferation strategies.

Let’s take a few examples of stereotypical personality types and see how their personality lends to gene proliferation.
Men and women being the two sides of the coin obviously have very different strategies for gene proliferation, so we’ll split the types between them.

Women
The untouchable beauty - yes, she’s a bitch but if she were nice, the guys would never leave her alone. Her bitchiness is a survival mechanism. They all want her and the goods go to the highest bidder. Anyone who isn’t up to par is held at bay with a cold shoulder and a stoic gaze. The strategy is to be cold and aloof, get some rich guy to adore her and take care of her and the kids. She will probably be doomed to an unstable life since her husband - being the highest bidder - has a lot of bidding material to throw around. Conclusion: Nature wants her to “win the jackpot” getting a huge amount of resources from one man to raise her kids. She will effectively do this and ensure her progeny will also follow the “high road” by enrolling them in etiquette school.

The awkward, shy type - she will most probably find love, usually from a warm and loving man (we’ll get to him in a second). She’ll be a good mother and raise her children with love and care. Were she to not get a family of her own, you can bet she’d be a great support to close family members with their own offspring. Conclusion: Nature wants her to have kids of her own and a fairly mundane existence. Barring that, she can simply lend a hand taking care of her family’s kids

The slut - she probably looks pretty good but feels pretty bad about herself. This leaves her with the possibility to be with lots of men but her low self-esteem will not allow her to stay in a lasting relationship. She is sweet, yet frail and insecure and constantly seeking appreciation. Since being with one man for a longer period is not working out, she will pass on her genes by seeking the “support” of these sooters - getting little bits of support many many times. Conclusion: Nature wants her to have children and get fleeting support from the men she sees.

The prude - her sexuality has been repressed and she is pushed into the role of caring mother. A few kids taken well care of will suffice in getting those genes to future generations. Complete devotion will be expected of her man and he will not be the pick of the litter, but what he’s got her gives to her. Conclusion: she will settle for the doormat type of man, squeeze the life out of him and kill his sexuality accordingly.

The bitch - “help is hard to come by”. This belief means she struggles to get anything. Her interactions with others are largely hostile. Her intimate relationships will also be a battle, but she will squeeze out what she needs to raise some kids - bitchy kids… Conclusion: Nature wants her to “take what she can get” and push away those trying to take from her.

Men
The jock - athletic, right? this lends him to genetic credibility and makes him attractive to potential mates. He gets around. He feels no real need to settle with one woman. He takes on an alpha-doggish dominant personality and operates on an unsophisticated level - which proves effective to a certain point. Conclusion: Nature wants him to bone excessively. Either he’ll eventually settle down at an age well past the national average and be faithful, or he’ll marry early and continue his sexual destiny with extramarital affairs. Women will have a love/hate relationship with him - adoring him for his manliness and loathing him for his…manliness.

The comic - gets along with everyone and keeps the groups laughing. Of course, this is mostly done out of insecurity and fear of hostility. This is perhaps slightly dishonest. This can be interpreted as a lack of strength - were he strong enough, he wouldn’t have to care what the group thought. This lack of strength is translated to half-ass attempts at relationships and sexual congress. The fear and edginess can be translated as suppressed sexual energy. Conclusion: He will joke his way into the pants of a really nice girl, masturbate often in his regret that he wasn’t a leader type, and steadily shink over the years as the weight of the group bears down on him. He’ll be a pretty good father and provide well for a few polite children.

The nerd - though it sounds like an insult, the archetype can be the potential “intelligence jock”. Of course, there are nerds ranging from the classic computer geeks with glasses to the Hardvard professor with the tweed jacket and pipe. What unites them under one category is their lack of success with women. They excel on a group level - not an individual level. What I mean is, their gift is to the group, whereas the jock’s gift is to some lucky gal. So, nerds will not enjoy the adoration of women, but rather of groups, institutions, and governments. they are smart, so the game plays out in their head. This makes them laregly introverted and distant. Conclusion: Nature wants them to serve the group, and not get too distracted with women or even family. They’ll be decent dads but less decent husbands. Nice people but no one you want to spend too much time with.

The leader - Again, a testament to the diversity of personality. No need to have good genes for physical strength or even intelligence - just need to get shit done. Coordinating and getting results do wonders for your gene proliferation. Confidence is a must and it is attractive to both the group and the fairer sex. But they walk a tight rope between their instinctive drive to spread their seed and the moral standards of the group they are serving. You’ll find a fantastic example in Bill Clinton. Conclusion: Nature wants them to impregnate many and serve the community - and their personalities are built up to just both. Screw being a dad. These are some lovable charismatic people, but their families can barely stand them.

The doormat - just trying to keep everyone happy and on his side. Low self-esteem and a confused sense of purpose keep him in dire need of others. He’ll say yes to everyone and everyone senses his desperation and treats him like the doormat he subconsciously professes to be. Conclusion: Nature wants him to get a decent wife, have kids and live his life as a slave to work and family.

The skirtchaser - not necessarily good looking yet somehow attractive to women. Confidence is key and he’s got tons of it - largely in the “I just don’t give a fuck” sense. If he had confidence in another sense (ie competent and virtuous), nature would push him more in the role of leader. He actually has low self-esteem and dislikes his place on earth so is simply out to “go get his” by nailing every chick he can. Conclusion: Nature wants him to lay lots of pipe and impregnate as many women as possible. Finding proper support for raising the children is the women’s problem. So, he is the love ‘em and leave ‘em type. Hearts will be broken but genes will undoubtably be passed on.

The bad-ass - the male equivalent of the bitch. He’s angry and ready to show it. A low self-esteem and continuous struggle in this world leaves him with nothing to lose. He what he needs is a big hug, but he’d kick your ass for suggesting as much. He gets want he wants by force or intimidation. Would rather people just gave it to him courteously but that’s just not in the cards. Conclusion: Nature gives him no freebees, so demands that he take what he can get. He will have children to he same way as he has everything else. His genes will be passed on to the next round.

Stop stop stop before you comment on how this is a tremendous generalization. I know this and embrace it. These are just some of the “primary colors” of personality - indeed we are all tapestries. And these are just a few examples. But from this, I hope you get a rough understanding of the “game” we all find ourselves in, the strategies (ie. personalities) which are being used to succeed in the game, and where your personality fits into it all.

There you have it - a slightly new definition of personality. So, what do we do now?

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Disclaimer
Evolution has been used as a justification for a good bit of hate and violence over the years, so let me take the first paragraph to state that this is a joyous and hopeful article about evolution which is meant to point out the positive aspects of this wondrous subset of evolution in which humanity currently finds itself. You see, we no longer evolve physically as a species, we evolve culturally. We learn all about evolution as a process for physical change in a species via genetic mutations over a period of time, but there has since been a definition of cultural change over a period of time. This is Cultural Evolution.

What is a Culture?
Culture is a set of beliefs, values, abilities, and rules which help people to live and grow together. Culture is about how we operate socially and is itself an evolutionary adaptation which allows us to work together to accomplish common goals. Laws, language, and all facets of communication, beliefs, agreements, bits of knowledge, etc all together make up a culture. Culture is as much a part of humanity as the opposable thumb and just as much a part of evolution too. All systems have rules and assumptions for the subsets to work together, but the rules and beliefs in certain systems change from within - and this is ultimately what evolution is. My car is a system with rules and assumptions set up so that all the parts work together to get me from A to B. But these rules and assumptions will not change on their own; they need an external force (i.e. mechanic or car specialist) to make the changes to the system to get the car to work better. So culture, because it changes on its own, follows an evolutionary process.

The cool part of this is that a culture is that the scope has been steadily increasing over time. A long time ago your culture was only really of value to you in the scope of your tribe. But the tribe has gotten steadily bigger over time and we now have a fully global tribe. Your culture is no longer only defined by where you live where you were raised, but also by what your individual beliefs and values are. Currently the beliefs and values of the world are evolving - the physical part has stopped. Why did it stop? We reached a tipping point as a society that we were no longer at the mercy of our environment and no longer needed to adapt to fit our environment, we were able to adapt our environment to fit us. Cultural evolution has been around since humans were living together, but about 10000 years ago it became the only form of evolution active among humans.

The Big Deal About Beliefs
Beliefs are what guides you and as such can be seen as adaptations. Birds in the wild believe I’m going to catch and eat them, so they fly away at the slightest provocation. Pigeons in New York belief I may give them food, so they allow me to get closer than if they believed I was only out to catch and eat them. This belief is an adaptation for city pigeons - since the ones who hang out closer to humans have been able to enjoy the bounty of their crumbs. Different beliefs will lead to different experiences in the world, and nature has allowed you to change your beliefs to help you best in your current situation.

How Gene Proliferation is a Common Goal
One of the biggest misconceptions about evolution is that it takes place on an individual level. In fact it takes place on the level of the gene. Interestingly enough, my genes are in a lot of different people. And since my genes want to be passed on, I want to see the holders of my genes prosper in life. This gives altruism an interesting twist. This explains why some people give their lives for others. We are not “living for ourselves” in this world; we are living for our genes. My kids have more of my genes than some random stranger on the street, but he does have some of my genes and it is a natural instinct to want to see him happy.

Culture as the New Evolutionary Currency
At some point in our evolution, beliefs became such important adaptations that they were valued by individuals and groups almost as much as genes. The right beliefs meant your genes would flourish and the wrong beliefs meant they were doomed. The theory then became: support your beliefs and you will be supporting your genes. So, those who shared the same beliefs were better able to work together and cooperate and thereby better pass on their genes. Evolution thereby made it such that cultures were as much a part of the survival struggle as the genes themselves. Joseph Giovannoli refers to cultures in this sense as psychogenes, in his book The Biology of Belief.

The more people who support your beliefs, the stronger your beliefs become and the more effective they will be in supporting your survival. Imagine your beliefs are like a weapon and the more people who share them, the stronger the weapon becomes and the more it will aid you in your survival and quest for gene proliferation. Of course, the belief itself has to be viable. If you believe killing your children will aid your gene proliferation, it won’t matter how many people support this belief - it will not help your gene proliferation. A more relevant example would be a religious belief like believing in Christianity or Judaism. Them more people who believe in Christianity, the stronger the Christians become and the better chance they will have of passing on their genes. The genes of the Christians may be quite different from each other, but by believing the same thing, they help each other pass on their respective genes.

Culture and Countries
We usually think of culture as something pertaining to a country. And despite the fact that you are largely free to share cultural common ground with people from all over the world, you are still led by the leaders of your country. A country may have many cultures within its borders but for the most part, it is operating from a single cultural and political standpoint. This standpoint may be a politically devised set of compromises and strategic declarations which enable it to operate in the world and not a real reflection of the myriad of cultures it really holds. Example: Americans largely disagree with the way its leaders are handling themselves, yet the American leaders are still the ones interacting with the rest of the world politically. So, the cultural standpoint of the United States of America does not seem to accurately reflect the cultures of the American people. But America, like all other countries, has a particular culture - its way of interacting with the rest of the world - which changes and shifts from time to time. These cultures, too are adaptations and can be compared with each other as more effective or less effective than other cultures with respect to how well they are helping their parent country survive and proliferate. A culture of hostility may serve a country well or it may not… It used to work quite well back when imperialism was the flavor of the month, but does it fare well today?

Survival of the Fittest Culture
So, culture operates on many levels - depending on the size of the organizations it is defined for. Survival of the Fittest Culture means that some belief systems are better suited to their environment than others. And on each level, there are cultures which fit well into their environment and cultures which don’t fit so well into their environment. And natural selection will see to it that the cultures which are most suited to their environment will be passed on, and those which are less suited will eventually die off. A more detailed explanation of this process is defined by the term “memes” - the cultural equivalent of genes. A good and relevant example of a meme which is doing quite well for itself is environmentalism. It’s all the rage and you see that cultures (on all levels) which are embracing environmentalism are doing well in today’s sphere of influence. I also remember a bumper sticker which proclaimed “mean people suck”. Indeed they do, and we can analyze all these memes and see where the trends are going. How will mean people as a culture continue to fare in the world? Will they proliferate or will their numbers die off? Do not confuse “mean people” as an actual group of assholes but rather as a cultural attribute. Cultures change within and across people’s lifetimes. You may be mean now but maybe your environment pushes you to adapt a new belief system in your lifetime.

The Best Beliefs and Values as Defined by Cultural Evolution
I’m just interpreting here and, in doing so, I’m suddenly aware of how I’m presenting evolution’s ideas much like priests present Jesus’ ideas - there may be a big discrepancy between what the interpreter is saying and what the source really means. Anyway, in studying nature and the trends humanity has undergone in the past 100000 years, we can make assumptions on how certain memes will fare in the future. This actually leads to a conclusion on what the most desirable attributes are for a culture. A pretty big deal if you’re accurate.

I’m not going to conclude on them here but a speculative example would be fun. Here goes: cooperation is a clear trend in the course of humanity. We have only gotten more interdependent on one another and have been forced to find ways to make ourselves happy and prosperous by making others happy and prosperous. This operates on the level of intimate relationships, like a husband and wife working together to raise a family, all the way up to global entities, like the European Union agreeing on a set of rules to help each country work together for economic and social growth. Want to have an effective experience in the world? Then be a cooperator. See how you can work together with others to achieve a common goal. If you’re not a cooperator, you can learn how to be one - thereby changing your culture. If this conclusion is accurate, then we see that the cooperators will be the survivors in the future, much like the fast cheetahs were the survivors. This should apply to cultures on all levels - for individuals as well as countries.

So, how to be a cooperator? That’s another article. For now, you know that some cultural trends, ie beliefs, values, and rules are adaptations, and as such, some are more effective than others so take a good look at which ones you think are contributing to a better life for yourself and the world. Thinking about which ones naturally feel good and which ones naturally feel bad should point you in the right direction - despite whether you currently share these beliefs, rules, and values. We said that cooperation is a “good” value (I believe), but doesn’t necessarily mean we are all cooperators. But just getting conscious of it should help you down that road. Ultimately, we should be excited about this perpective since we can now analyze the trends and put ourselves in line with them. It may be frightening to find the results - like “what if brute hostility turns out to be an increasingly successful meme?”. We may just have to put faith in the universe that the trends are leading in a positive direction. Don’t worry, we’ll try to prove that in another article too.

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I’m a big Bill Maher fan, so I’ll take a page from him. “New Rule: you can’t say that God created all the good things in the world and all the bad things were created by Man.” Science tells us that Good & Evil are human, conscious constructs and the Universe doesn’t have an opinion. “Why are there bad people in the world”, “Why does God allow all this suffering”, “How could they change the original Chex Mix recipe”. These are all questions that people ask in an attempt to understand “the mind of God”. In doing so, you assume that God has a conscious mind and made things the way they are for a conscious reason. But in answering these questions from a religious point of view and within the bounds of western religious teachings, one is forced to take on the position that God made good things and men made the evil things - which is just silly.

God made everything
And just why are there bad people in the world? I don’t know and I’m not going to address it in the scope of this article, I just want to make the point that God - or nature or whatever you want to call it - made everything. God made murderers, thieves, rapists, bitches and assholes, just as much as he made Tom Hanks and ice cream. And that the labels Good and Bad are something we define based on what we want and what we do not want as a society - not as characteristics inherent to a thing regardless of whether humans are around or not. Murder was not Evil in the time of the dinosaurs. Murder is not evil today when a lion kills a zebra - even if it’s a baby zebra who was just born and is still too weak to stand and whose mommy had a really rough pregnancy and the father left her for a younger, more attractive zebra. It only becomes evil when humans are observing. OK, murder only applies to humans, but you get the point.

The Evolution of Good & Evil
Yes, even morality evolved - that’s how powerful and all-encompassing evolution is. Religious pundits often balk at the idea that morality is just a set of rules we all put together for society to function properly. The argument is mistaken in thinking that these rules were set up consciously. I agree with the priests that a group of people did not sit down one day and brainstorm over a list of rules. Rather, these rules are built into us as much as our desire to eat. A long, long time ago before humans, even before cavemen, you could pretty much do anything you wanted. But at some point creatures started teaming up in the ever increasingly competitive environment. As we know from game theory and systems theory, any cooperation or organization needs rules - it’s inherent in the very definition of these two constructs. So, rules were set up on a subconscious level. And by that, I mean that evolution, through trial and error, subconsciously puts systems in place which allow our genes to be passed on - so morality was just another evolutionary adaptation to help us proliferate. This is why morality has been around long before religion and the most atheistic people can still be morally superior to religious zealots. Think of it this way: a tribe of people with no rules will prosper and proliferate less than a tribe of people with a set of rules which better enable them to work together and take on their surroundings. Rules like “let’s not kill each other” - simple things which can lead to big gains in the gene pool. A cheetah also developed a flexible spine to be able to run faster - the difference here is that cultural evolution is happening across a set of individuals instead of within an individual.

Your conscience and You
The built-in mechanism for morality is indeed your conscience. Freudians call it the super ego and Pinocchio calls it Jiminy Cricket. And now you know where it came from - it’s an adaptation nature created so you already know how to play the game and what the rules are. It’s stronger and more effective in some than in others just like some people are physically stronger or smarter than others. But just as any adaptation, the better it is the better you should help you fare in life. Just like working out or brain puzzles, you can develop your conscience as well. Start by listening to it.

No absolute truths? What do we do now?  
So there are no absolute truths. But this need not worry you. This is not a call to throw morality out the window - I just want a proper definition of what morality is. So what if God didn’t invent the labels Good & Evil, that people did, and that it’s no longer holy? It still makes for a good working society and nature did a good job of creating Good & Evil to support human proliferation. Not as magical as the 10 Commandments, but isn’t it like 1000 times more real and impressive? And there is rationality behind the morality - not just someone telling you not to have sex with no real explanation why. And let’s not call them Laws or Commandments, call them guidelines. If life is a game, these guidelines will not tell you how to win the game (cause life is not a competition), only how to have the most pleasant, fulfilling experiences. “Don’t have promiscuous sex” becomes “Having promiscuous sex may be fun on one level, but empty on another. Scientists and psychologists show that the most sexually fulfilled people are those in a monogamous, loving relationship. And indeed, a fulfilling sex life is an important part of a healthy, balanced life. But if you feel like you need to hump a lot to get some stuff out of your system, go right ahead. I’m not mad at ya. At least now, you’re making an informed decision.” The second example just feels better, right?

Embracing morality
Let us embrace the morality that living in societies has made for us. Not because it’s written in scriptures, but because we’ll have a better life for it.

• No killing - it just doesn’t make for pleasant living. Ever want to kill someone? It’s not a nice feeling. I can’t even imagine how bad it would feel if you actually killed someone.
• No lying - it may get you want you want in the short term but long term, the weight on your conscience is enough to give you a hump back by the time you’re 40. And your reputation usually suffers beyond any short term gain. Be honest for a good night’s sleep.
• No stealing - ok, so you stole a tube of toothpaste, but how do you feel about yourself right now? Like “I can’t believe I just stole a tube of toothpaste. I’m a horrible human being”. Getting a job to pay for the toothpaste may be a pain in the ass, but you’ll feel fulfilled on another level and you can begin the process of working for more money and finding nicer jobs.
• Be nice to people - being a dick makes you feel like a dick. Nature has ensured that the nice people, in general, get good standing in a community. You may say “it’s better to be rich and powerful” and I won’t argue that right now, but being poor and nice gets you more points than being poor and nasty.
• Don’t be such a slut/male whore - aside from genital delight, sex often gives people a sense of acceptance. If you’re a bottomless pit of low self-esteem, you’ve probably realized that promiscuous sex is not solving that issue. Find another way. And note that nature made love, commitment and honesty feel naturally good too… Otherwise, have fun.
• Drugs are bad - and drugs are everywhere, from TV to pure heroine. Anything which takes away from your ability to contribute positively to the gene pool has been deemed as unacceptable and is punishable by societal isolation and severe feelings of guilt. But who doesn’t love an occassional spliff?…
• Get to work - again with the contributing. Laziness just feels bad. Sure, you may not know what to do and hate doing things you don’t like, but for total bliss see “working hard at something you love”.
• Get a God - you thought I was dissing the notion, but quite the contrary. Find a definition of God that you’re comfortable with and feel the sense of oneness - whether you define it as Jesus, Allah, Buddha, nature, physics, the global consciousness, etc. Studies do show that people who feel part of something bigger lead more fulfilling and happy lives. Doesn’t mean you need to be a Christian or a Jew or part of some major religion, but just try finding something that’s “bigger” than you and adorning it with a sense of wonderment and humility. Feels nice.

And that was it. It’s quite common to feel torn by conflicting thoughts like “I think morality is good” and “I don’t like what religions are saying about morality”.  So I hope this article leaves you with a possibly new perspective with no conflicting ideas.

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