Mean Genes

Continually throughout this book, the link between the problems our ancestors faced and the way we react to our relatively new and modern issues. We tend to approach our problems with the same methodology that our ancestors did, but are usually unsuccessful due to the extremely different nature of our problems and modern society.

The genes we possess are inherited from generation to generation, and there is little change in the genes and how they are expressed. In Mean Genes, the concept of gambling, risk and adrenaline rushes are examined and expanded to show how they connect to the archaic problems of the past.

" Lottery officials have discovered the equivalent of wild cards and have created games that entice our gambler within while fooling our more calculating side. In fact, most of us have no idea what odds we face. As noted, winning the big drawing in California requires matching six numbers between 1 and 51. Why these rules? Precisely to hide the terrible odds. On mathematical problems of exactly this sort, people overestimate the odds of winning by more than one thousand percent. That's why lotteries use them.

Let's face it, if a friend said, 'I'm thinking of a number one and eighteen million. See if you can guess it,' you probably wouldn't have much hope of winning nor would you wager the family's grocery money.

Businesses take advantage of our instincts in other ways. In one experiment, researchers ran a lottery ticket with a twist. Half of the people were allowed to pick their entires. The others were assigned entries at random. Just before the drawing, the researchers offered to buy the tickets back from the subjects. What did they find? People who had been assigned tickets were willing to sell the,pm for an average of just under two bucks, while those who picked their entry demanded more than eight dollars. This enormous difference seems silly. The lottery was run purely by chance, so every ticket, chosen or assigned, had the same value.

A related study had people play a game of chance against an opponent. The game was simply to have each person draw a playing card, with the highest card winning. Half the bettors played against a well dressed opponent who acted in a confident manner. The other half's opponents were instructed to act in a bumbling manner and wear clothes that did not fit.

What is the chance of winning this game against the cool, powerful opponent? Exactly half, and exactly the same as the odds of winning against the bumbling fool. Remember, this is a game of total chance. In this experiment, however, bettors wagered 47% more when they faced the meek, poorly dressed opponents."

Our genes and our behaviors are extremely predictable. Lotteries, businesses and crooks use that information and the data shown in the above studies to play into our genes and ancestral habits and nature, to succeed. But, with a knowledge of how our genes work and how we react to situations, based on history and biology, we can overcome and suppress those habits. We must know how our brain is going to want to respond to things, like feeling more confident against an individual that seems weaker and submissive, even when no preference exists in a game of total chance. Mean Genes focuses on informing people of our habitual nature, that has existed for centuries, but little has been addressed on how to prevent our shortcomings when it comes to adapting to modern problems.

I think this is something that needs to be focused on and and addressed in biology classes, maybe not regents biology because it requires a level of comprehension fresh,an may not have, but definitely at some point in high school. The knowledge of how our bodies and brains naturally react to situations due to our genes can directly combat issues like obesity, gambling, addictions, deficits, and other crucial issues our society faces today.