Procreation Consciousness and Social Evolution

In 1959, Charles Darwin published his most famous book ‘The Origin of Species.’ Influenced by the work of Robert Malthus on how the imbalance of population growth regarding food supply leads to social upheaval and eventually a process of unplanned social selection via famine, wars, and armed conflict. Darwin came up with the conclusion that in a living environment, the survivors are not merely the strongest, but the ones who can best adapt to their environment. Today, looking back at both Malthus’ and Darwin’s works, it seems that combining the two scholars’ ideas might provide a way to solve one of humanity’s most critical yet neglected problems, a problem that is ravaging this planet and human society alike, overpopulation. As these words are being written, the world population is only 200 million short of reaching eight billion, with 7.8 billion as of August 2020 according to the most recent United Nations estimates elaborated by World Meter. Indeed, the upcoming outcome could not be any clearer: unless humanity ADAPTS and learns to calibrate its growth with the planet’s resources, overpopulation will be the main catalyst for future armed conflicts and social upheavals.

On the individual level, the process of human procreation used to be and is still happening without social regulations or genetic considerations. In a time when owning a house or starting a business can drown someone in paperwork and put them in a bureaucratic maze, having a child, or giving birth to a new life, seems like something taken for granted. People with different levels of income, educational backgrounds, and genetic material are treated the same when it comes to childbirth, resulting in an array of citizens, individuals with different life agendas and likely at odds with each other, given the different experiences and social upbringing that they go through.

The individual who grows up in a family with low income might be accompanied by a sense of social disenchantment and frustration and will develop antisocial tendencies, especially against those he perceives as being of the upper class. Here, one might argue that not all individuals of lower social class are destined to be hostile to the public and that the environment plays a role in the formation of the citizen which of course has some validity to it. However, those inner feelings of lack of achievement, envy, cosmic injustice, and bias do exist in many of us, but sometimes they will be based on what seems, to the individual, valid grounds for their social class-driven antagonism. Moreover, with the impact of the currency on the new citizen’s mindset and character comes the impact of the Pen. Having parents with good educational backgrounds and a decent level of human knowledge can mitigate the aforementioned consequences brought by low income since an increase in awareness and intellect is likely to result in knowing, respecting, and adhering to society’s laws and norms.

The Malthusian catastrophe simplistically illustrated

Last but not least, one more factor that can determine the new citizen’s mental and psychological stability, as well as their relationship with society, is the family’s genetic tree. No matter what people say, looks are the N°1 essential thing that matters and it plays a primary role in people’s first impression of others and of themselves. Of course, we all know that, but we keep lying to the newcomers in every generation, an attempt by the parents to refuse to take responsibility for what their desires to procreate had done to their offspring and trying to avoid admitting their flawed genes. Certainly, when speaking about human DNA, one cannot only focus on the aesthetic side but on the medical side as well. The unavoidable issue here is not only for parents with genetic problems (defects, disfigurations, mutations…) to procreate but also for doing so with their full knowledge of their inherited ordeal, risking their children’s happiness and well-being in the process.

Now, having tackled the issue on both the global and individual levels, certain questions come to mind:

1. How can we fix this mayhem of uncontrolled, random state of human procreation?

2. What effects will that have on the individual and humanity as a whole?

The first step in solving any problem is to understand its roots. Now, having a child is of course based on a variety of reasons (ensuring the continuation of the family name, having someone to take care of us when we get older…), but none of those should be more important than that of a child’s happiness, wellbeing and safety.

So, by following Darwin’s ideas about natural selection and how it allowed living organisms to evolve, improve their skills and physical/mental capabilities, as well as serve as a way to control the process of reproduction; combined with Malthus’ writings about the inevitable conflict and upheaval emerging as a result of population growth outpacing the resources, it is critical to step down on some individual rights for the greater goal of preserving humanity and the wellbeing of the planet. Human societies must start carrying out and enforcing legislation and laws that regulate and control human reproduction. We simply cannot just allow anyone to procreate. A ‘Social Selection’ process needs to start as soon as possible that would bring more benefits than harm to humans as individuals and as nations. It is important to emphasize the state of mind and awareness needed on the part of the citizenry in the process. The age and era of looking at childbirth as a given right should be closed as soon as possible and procreation should be looked at as a privilege that needs to be earned. This process of Social Selection will help eradicate the explosive nature of human reproduction, considerably curtail population growth, and alleviate the demographic pressure on the planet’s resources. Also, it will help lead humanity toward a socially-induced biological evolution. By selecting the individuals with the appropriate genes, we will create a generation that is more capable, healthier, and less prone to mental and physical illness since it will live in an environment that has more job opportunities, less pollution, and more resources available for use.

Yes. Social Selection is a radical process that requires the government to strip away the individual ‘right’ of procreation and for the many to forgo this ‘right’ in favor of a better future for posterity and the planet. But, has evolution and natural selection not been radical and cruel to the creatures that once existed, too? And is it not true that without it, Homosapiens, in their current form, would not have come into existence? So, it is fair to say that this is merely the next step in human evolution, where we, not nature, are responsible for either our survival and upgrade or our demise, and become, like the dinosaurs, a thing of the past.