37. William Hamilton’s
worries about the future of the human genome
Posted by T.T. and
P.T. in May 2020
William D. Hamilton (1936-2000) was a significant
evolutionary biologist who received the Kyoto Prize in 1993. He gave much thought to the future of the
human genome and, in particular, he was seriously worried about the progressive
degradation of humankind in the distant future due to the accumulation of
deleterious mutations. Curiously, many evolutionary biologists at that time did
not think this was a serious possibility and, therefore he was sometimes
regarded as a pessimist.
A genome which characterizes a species is not perfectly
stable but instead it varies through a series of mutations as it passes from
one generation to the next. Most mutations cause adverse effects on the
survival of the specie, but they are mostly removed by natural selection in the
wild environment. However, modern medicine tends to keep alive those humans
having deleterious mutations, so that the process of natural selection is
weekend or even eliminated. Thus, by the accumulation of deleterious mutations,
degradation of humankind can indeed occur after many generations, as Hamilton
had warned.
Recently, another biologist, Gert Korthof, investigated
Hamilton’s arguments on the degradation of the human genome in the future, and
he wrote an extensive review, now available
in a website entitled William Hamilton’s worries about the future of the
human genome (first published 2011, updated 2017). He discussed the particular
problem posed by Hamilton, and he searched for possible solutions based on the
use of modern technologies considering many detail. finally, he concluded that
we cannot correct the accumulation of deleterious mutations by technological
fixes.
Korthof’s conclusion states that the continual advances in
medical care aimed at maintaining the welfare of present humans inevitably
undermines the welfare of future humans
due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations. If we genuinely hope to gift
a healthy genome to future humans, we will have to make sacrifices in our lives
to the same extent as occurs by natural selection. In order to achieve that,
present humans should be purely altruistic, ‘as a lover who sacrifices their
own life to save their beloved’.
It is not only in the accumulation of deleterious mutations
that the fate of future humans may be adversely influenced by the activities of
present humans. Indeed, although it is mostly not acknowledged by present
people, their culturally achieved welfare is often gained at the cost of future
people.
Our humankind is now massively challenged by the dilemma of
needing to choose either to benefit all individuals or whole generations in the
future.