Here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place
— Lewis Carroll, Through the looking glass
Lewis Carroll, in all his genius, gave life to a new evolution theory – the Red Queen hypothesis (probably against his will). In Through the looking glass, when Alice returned to Wonderland, she ends up being dragged by the Red Queen in a frenetic race. When they finally stop, Alice realised, to her amazement, that they haven’t moved, not at all, not from a yotta. The Red Queen then turns to Alice to tell her that her world wasn’t moving the way our (and Alice’s) world was moving and in order to stay exactly where you are you have to run very very fast for an extensive amount of time. In other words, in order to stay in the game, you need to keep up with everything going on around you.
Ecologists took this concept and turned it into the Red Queen hypothesis – an evolutionary theory that states that organisms, and every life form, must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate. They must do so not merely to gain reproductive advantage (i.e., passing down their genes and produce offspring, the ultimate goal of every individual), but also simply to survive against ever-evolving opposing organisms, in a constantly changing environment. This concept follows Darwin’s precept of the evolution of the fittest.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
— Charles Darwin
The animal kingdom is made of co-evolving, competing or cooperating, species that all need to adapt not only to the changes of the environment but also to the changes of species around them. Let’s take the common example of peppered moths.
Up to the middle of the 17th century, bark from birch trees in England were light-coloured, and peppered moths that rested on them were mainly white (see picture on the left). It was one of the first studied example of camouflage – the peppered moths imitated the patterns present on the bark of birches and other light-colour trees in order to escape predation from birds. It existed another variety of peppered moths: black peppered moths. Those dark-colour peppered moths were mostly predated on by birds, as more easily visible against the light-colour barks. However, due to the widespread pollution during the Industrial Revolution, the barks of trees darkened and the light-coloured peppered moths began more visible to predators and their population decreased. In the meantime, dark-coloured peppered moths could more easily camouflaged against the barks of the trees and became the dominant variety (see picture on the right). In order to survive in a changing environment, peppered moths had to evolve and change their strategy to survive. And this apply to every species on earth – humans included.
When looking at human, as an animal, we are pretty useless to survive in the wild. We don’t have a thick skin protecting us from the sun or hard soil. We don’t have powerful paws and sharp claws to help us hunt. We do have however a social brain, made for projection and planing. That is what allowed us to organise as a species and survive through time when so many species were going extinct due to environmental changes. We survived and adapted to the point of creating machines to help us out in our survival – computers. While other species live in symbiosis with each other (close association between two or more organisms of different species, often but not necessarily benefiting each member), we created a symbiosis of our own with computer and machines. We have become dependent on them in our daily life, as much as they are (still/for now?) dependent on us to repair them and update them.
Another great example of the Red Queen’s hypothesis is the frenzy that happened during the Cold War – the USA and the USSR were competing for the best armament and to be the first ones to send men on the Moon. As soon as one was making progress, the other had to double the gains and do even better. It became an uncontrolled arms race, which is the common outcome of any inter-human competition and conflict.
This, however, is not only true in conflicts. It is also true in social relationships (romantic or else).
In our super-digital society, finding the “right-match” is supposedly as easy as swiping right. Our modern world allows us to connect with almost every one through social media and online dating apps and websites. Finding the “right-one” becomes then a game of finding an above average, lucky, match. If you don’t like who you are meeting with, swipe left and get to the next one… dreamy. What it really means is that in order to attract and keep someone you like, you need to deploy stacks of virtues and benefits, without losing yourself in the process. With all those Insta-perfect lives and reality shows, anything less than flawless doesn’t seem worthy… Or is it not?
Wouldn’t it be easier to accept one another for the person they are, to accept to spend time with someone before emitting any form of judgment? And once you found that special someone that completes you and make your heart beats, is it hard to accept time can change them the way it affects you?
A modern “happily ever after” is, I think, more about changing together, with each other and because of each other, than staying the same forever and ever. That’s just not realistic, nobody (NOBODY) stays the same forever… Even your phone goes through updates and changes, so why wouldn’t your companion? Our social environment is going through the fastest evolution ever witnessed, and because of that we need to adapt permanently. So next time you turn around and say “I don’t understand them, they changed so much” take some time to wonder whether you have changed in the same amount of time. It is ok to change and to grow apart. Growing apart doesn’t mean having nothing in common anymore. You will always have your memories and what once united you. You can be different, have different lifestyle, and still enjoy each other’s company. Don’t expect people to remain as you left them and accept to discover who they became. You might surprise yourself.
Enough rambling about – you get the idea. “Orange is the new black” (… hmmm not what I was going for)… Ah! Got it: “Change is the new constant”! Embrace the change in yourself and in other. Allow yourself to change, change is good, change is essential, change is survival.
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