Darwinsim

Darwin’s theory of evolution and the subsequent idea of social Darwinism, are interesting to look at because Darwin’s theories were blatantly taken to mean something different from what Darwin intended. Darwin’s theory is based off of the idea that certain animals in a species are born with bizarre and inexplicable gene mutations that change their physical condition in some way. This change either helps them survive, or not, and those that are born with the gene mutation geared towards better survival are more likely to reproduce, thus changing the species and forcing the worse off of the two genotypes to become extinct. This is a natural process, and all species in the world are subject to it. Darwin’s ideas were controversial because he was essentially claiming the humans came from lower forms of apes, and that over time the human race was created because we were better at surviving than other apes. For obvious reasons people had a problem with this, considering most people did not want to believe that humans were not somehow unique in special, but simply part of a chain of evolution. What I find interesting about Darwin’s theory is what it means for the future of humans right now. I feel the humans have reached a point in life where we have invented enough things to keep people that would have otherwise died alive, so our population is simply increasing, instead of staying the same, Darwin’s theory had the idea of worse genotypes becoming extinct, but this idea no longer holds true for humans. If humans descended from apes, it only makes sense that there will be a future species descended from humans. What this species will be like, I don’t know, but I am not sure if there will be one.
Social Darwinism takes the idea of evolution and uses it as an excuse for people in positions of power to take advantage of those who don’t have power. It’s the idea that because someone was blessed with being able to doing something better than someone else, they have the right to exploit those under them. Darwin’s theory has nothing to do with a better species taking advantage of a worse species; his theory is based off the idea that the better species has a better chance at surviving, and therefore will reproduce more. It’s interesting to think that if you consider this aspect, those in the position of power, which are few, have the natural predator of the powerless mass, who had more power than the few rich if they choose to use it. This would mean that out of all the rich people, the ones most likely to survive, and therefore born with the better trait, would be those that catered to the powerless and kept them happy, and therefore no inclined towards revolution.