“survival of the fittest, BRO”

Not many are aware of what Darwin meant when he wrote “survival of the fittest”. It’s a rather vague word choice that often gets confused with “fitness”, like the species that is meant to survive is the one that demonstrates strength and power. But this is incorrect according to Darwin. Fitness was meant to measure the ability for a creature to adapt, cooperate, and “fit” within their environment.

It’s like measuring how well one piece of a puzzle fits with another in the box. If we take that same metaphor; the way many see evolution today would assess a puzzle piece by how many pieces it can cram within it’s edges no matter their shape. This is a one way ticket to getting left in the dust because if you cannot fit within your environment, you can’t eat, grow, have offspring, or build shelters. Adapting to your environment is more than just a “nice to have”, it’s essential if you care about surviving.

One saddening point in history this was witnessed was when Europeans invaded Native American land, changing the Americas into a hostile environment for natives. In this case, many would assume that it was superior weaponry and technological advancement that furthered what newspapers and government communications called “manifest destiny”. But a closer look reveals a more grim truth. Europeans had centuries of diseases brought by unhygienic living standards, crowded cities, and persistent rat problems culminating in wide-sweeping plagues. Native American tribes were much more spaced out and didn’t pack people into dense localities which avoided many of the devastating illnesses. So when the Eurpoeans  travelled to the Americas, they were infecting every population with the diseases they were already immune to. We should hope that many were not aware of what they brought over in those ships, but unfortunately we do have records of some people infecting blankets with smallpox with the intention of eliminating entire tribes. This is considered bio-warfare, and was declared a war crime by the Geneva Protocol in 1925. Too many years too late.

At this point, the environment of the Americas had changed, there were now diseases and armed invaders. While natural selection favored the Native Americans at first, because they knew how to live on the land much better, it was diminished by the transformation of the environment. This can be considered a “forced evolution”, and consequently set back societal progress due to war, violent encounters, and the discouragement of accruing greater shared knowledge as equals. Instead, a marketing campaign to promote the idea of “Manifest Destiny” was used to justify the invasion of previously inhabited land.

That term was not just used because it sounds inspiring. The phrase was first used in 1845 by journalist John L. O’Sullivan, who wrote that it was America’s “manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” Providence was a term used at this time for God. Essentially, they believed it was written in the future by God to colonize the Americas.

It’s an appealing rationale to use God as a reason to take over another land or act with overpowering strength. But just as people back then justified evil practices by claiming it’s God’s plan, today people are justifying similar evil practices by claiming it’s just survival of the fittest. Neither are appropriate interpretations of a loving God or Darwin’s evolution theory. Which is what the true enemy is in this essay: forcing inaccurate rationale to permit evil actions. We all have the capacity to feel when something is cruel and evil. Regardless of culture, country, language, or religion. At the very least, to be human is to value human life. Those who corrupt religious texts to do wrong, or reinterpret economic principles to justify paying workers less are the ones devaluing their own species. Growth, survivability, prosperity, it all rides on our ability to “fit” with each other, never strength forced over another. Have that be the last thought in your head from now on. That you have the ability to tap into the oldest behavior all living things. The ability to cooperate, and the ability to share.

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