First Non Fiction Blog

Study Guide for the first half of the book: The Meaning of Human Existence

1       Who is Edward O. Wilson, the author?

He is one of the world’s best biologists and naturalists and he has won two Pulitzer Prizes. He is a professor emeritus at Harvard University. He is also the world’s leading expert on ants.

2       What does Edward O. Wilson say is the concept that helped organisms evolve?

He says that they evolved with multi-level selection, where organisms work together as a group, and the whole group evolves through natural selection.

3       What are some of the consequences of being in a tribe?

You view people outside your group as inferior to you, you refuse to work with others, and racism also comes from this.

4       Why is it important to measure human progress through both humanities and science?

Arts and science work together and the humanities are how we portray ourselves and our scientific discoveries.

5       How do humans use their senses differently from most other species?

Humans unction mainly with audio and visual senses, with eyes and ears. Most other species before humans use their smell and taste to survive.

6       What is one way ants and termites evolved?

They evolved through eusociality.

7       What are the characteristics of eusociality?

Some characteristics are cooperative brood care, overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups.

8       How did humans evolve to use a form of eusociality?

2 million years ago in Africa a species of primates shifted their diet from plants to eating more meat, and they had to join together to have hunters to bring food back for the tribe.

9       How can group selection occur?

It can occur through competition or violent conflict between groups.

1   In what aspect are humans much more advanced than animals?

Humans are the most socially intelligent of all organisms, because we evaluate others, bond, cooperate, control and gossip. Humans always review their past encounters with others and predict the consequences of future scenarios.

1   What is the thing that makes humans special?

The humanities makes humans special, because of the cultures, beliefs, and languages. These only exist on Earth and with humans, and nowhere else in the Universe. Science, however, is also the same science in the whole Universe.

1   How is cultural evolution different from scientific discovery?

Cultural evolution is different, because it happens only in the human brain, and it has to do with human interaction and feelings. Also, culture evolve and diversify infinitely, while the amount of scientific discoveries has slowed down and will continue to be much harder to find because the technology needed to make a scientific discovery will be much more expensive and harder to get.

1   How could we answer the question of making the human species better at the cost of not being completely human?

It is best answered by the humanities, which shows how humanities and science should work together. We could either make a choice to move away from the human nature that we have inherited, but make the human body much more efficient, or we could preserve biological human nature and improve science and technology without tampering with humans.

1   Which is the concept of how individual and group selection work together?

Within groups, selfish members win against altruistic members, but groups of altruists win against groups of selfish members.

1  In summary, what is the theory of inclusive fitness?

Inclusive fitness treats the individual group member as the unit of selection. The sum of all the interactions of the individuals with the other group members results in social evolution. The positive and negative effects of the interactions on the individual make the inclusive fitness in a group.

1   What is the theory of kin selection?

The theory of kin selection is when a gene for a positive trait is increased in a group when the benefit of this is more than the cost in offspring to that member. However this is only effective if it benefits close family members, like a brother or sister. This shows that close kinship is very important in advanced social evolution.

1   What is a pheromone and why are they important?

A pheromone is a secreted or excreted chemical that triggers members of the same species to socially respond. They are important because they are used by most organisms to communicate, and many organisms, like bees, wasps, ants and moths rely on pheromones to survive.