This got more ambitious than it was meant to be, once again, and now has to be split up so I can even get part of it out before I write the rest. So I guess I’ll just post the beginning now.

Darwinism and Memes

The world is filled with millions of different species, each with their own unique genetic code, that determines what traits the species in general, and on a smaller scale, each individual of that species, exhibit. Lengthy strings of sugars, phosphates, and nitrogenous bases manifest themselves in physical reality as organisms all around us, from the smallest bacterium to the massive blue whale.

Every living organism carries, within each of its cells, its genetic code as a molecule known as DNA. Sequences of what boil down to four separate characters dictate the creation of the proteins that form our physical bodies and allow us to sustain ourselves, move around, and experience the world.

Something that’s obvious to anyone who has an experience of existing on Earth is that there are many different, varied kinds of life. Over time we discovered that the differences in kinds of life corresponded to differences in their DNA. Someone from a programming background, then, might think of DNA as the “language of life”; sequences of A, T, C, and G serving a function analogous to 1s and 0s in our typical (binary) computers. Where binary combinations encode instructions for a computer’s processor, DNA sequences encode instructions for those parts of a cell which construct proteins.

One major difference between DNA and computer code, though, is that as far as we know, nobody writes DNA. There are no languages being compiled into specific organisms, and no designer behind the vast ecosystems of life we see today. Instead, seemingly by chance, the right combinations of DNA appear to have emerged to produce complex, interconnected webs of species which together form an ecosystem.

Plant species photosynthesize light into stored energy, which herbivores eat, and then carnivores eat those herbivores, culling the populations enough to prevent overgrazing from eliminating the plants at the root…

How do such elaborate balances emerge?

Emergent Ecosystems

So, as you definitely are aware, those combinations of DNA didn’t emerge by pure chance. The process of natural selection causes those genes most suited to their environment to become predominant.

This is relevant to computers and society at large. I’m going to leave you this tantalizing hint while I write the rest of this post, just to make sure that you’ll be paying attention to this blog at all.