The genetic roots of sin

Dante Alighieri, Who Descended into Hell, told in his Divine Comedy about the seven deadly sins, from which all other sins originate. Sinners were divided into seven circles: for each circle of hell there was one sin. Today, seven hundred years after writing this masterpiece, biologist John Medina reflects in his book The Gene and the Seven Deadly Sins (Acento publishing house) whether these very sins are actually “simple chemical reactions, if the information recorded in genes can be considered guilt at all.””. There are echoes of animal instincts in our misdeeds, which still live in the human mind to this day. Nevertheless, Medina argues that all together and each of our flaws individually are exclusively human traits, just like laughter.

But where do the origins of these feelings inherent in human nature lie? Can we act contrary to the orders given to us by the brain? The author of the book “The Gene and the Seven Deadly Sins” returns to the hell described by Dante in order to go through all seven circles and, from the point of view of a biologist, justify each of the behaviors.

According to Medina, the causes of sin related to sexual activity lie in “four physiological systems of 11 brain regions, in the action of almost thirty different biochemical mechanisms and more than a hundred special genes responsible for this process.” In addition, the scientist talks about the “feeling of enthusiasm present in us – healthy and instinctive – to pass on genes to the next generation.” Can lust be considered a sin after that?

Hunger is a feeling that “appears to us when the human body begins to experience a lack of energy.” And we are being pushed to sinfully consume food by “taste buds and the hormone leptin in our nose and tongue.” Leptin is responsible for human appetite and is in constant contact with one of the parts of the brain – the hypothalamus. This area of our gray matter acts as a warning siren and immediately notifies us as soon as the body lacks energy and needs to refresh itself. Something like Pavlov’s conditional signal for people.

No one has been able to identify a specific part of the brain directly responsible for greed. And the genes that determine the two factors underlying this sin – fear and anxiety – have been identified. Medina points to “five main brain regions responsible for the appearance of these feelings: the thalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, cerebral cortex, and amygdala.”

How can laziness be explained biologically? How do a person’s periods of sleep and wakefulness alternate? According to Medina, “every person has something like an alarm clock consciousness that works like a clock and sends us signals from the brain.” The schedule according to which our body must live is written in the genes, and only they are responsible for our negligence or untimely work.

The best evidence for a genetic explanation of this sin is experiments with twins conducted by biological scientists. According to Medina, “if one of the brothers is a criminal, then it is highly likely that the other may also cross the line of the law.” As they say, there are people who have this behavior in their blood. “There is a kind of neurological pathway connecting the amygdala to the hypothalamus and responsible for sending impulses to other parts of the brain to transmit information about aggressive behavior to them,” explains Medina.

Envy and similar experiences “are a consequence of a biological problem. And, perhaps, the origins of this problem can be found in the human brain,” says the biologist. The answer to this question is given by one of the human genes: “It is he who is responsible for changing sleep patterns, weight; for the fact that a person is unable to remember some things, he is also responsible for loss of energy and changes in libido.” Such symptoms can be inherited.

The biblical sin of arrogance is proof of a typical human feeling of inferiority. The biologist notes that “this disadvantage depends on our ability to learn, our ability to remember, and, above all, on our ego.” What are the causes of human pride? For example, one of the genes called CaM-kII, coupled with calcium atoms, excites our ambitions and arrogance.

Source: Иносни.ру (By Alberto Rojas)