HAR 1 - The Special Human Gene - From God, Aliens, Stars or Pandora
Posted: Tuesday, July 27, 2010
by Christofer French
Rain Dancer Associates, LLC
"I Feel More Like I Do Now Than I Did When I Came In."
Now there is an old backward drunken phrase from the denizen of those kinds of thoughts - Texas. It makes perfect sense to a drunk. And it seems quite appropriate at this point in the Human DNA discussion. After years studying the human genome (only 5% is really accessible and comprehensive to us right now) There is this "HAR 1" that is only human. Animals do not have it. Mammals do not have it, other than humans.
Quick, Quick, With The Arguments
"When we came in". Now there is where the contention begins. There is the creationist take: God said, "I'm gonna make me a man!" And the HAR 1 started. Evolutionists say: "Throw some millions of years around and it could evolve". Alien Incursionists/Interventionists claim. "It came from outer space". Thus, HAR 1 is probably one of the key remnants of the alien DNA that we got when they said: "We are going to make us a homo sapien from this here Ape."
The point of this article is not to try to reconcile these arguments, or to persuade one or two to go over to the other point of view. That would be like trying to get a Buddhist, a Western Hedonist Secularist and an Islamist to agree. But rather this HAR 1 is the part of our code that ALLOWS us to argue.
HAR 1 - "Hardee harhar". "Whatyousay?" "We are so much more civilized than those guys over there."
This guy is the thing that allows us to laugh. Do dogs laugh? (Forget hyenas for the moment). Amazement, scorn and awe. These are the human things that make this life worth living. Whenever this HAR 1 came in, or got configured or evolved, it made us distinctly "children of God", "Alien subdudes" or highly evolved "tricky dicky Apes". Again, however it happened, it made us us. It made us able to argue, pose subjective points of view, invent religion, establish science, think of the idea of research, write books about behavior, create traditions of law, love, civilization and war. It allows us to become skeptical, superior, arrogant, noisome irritating obnoxious types or "loverly" little girls.
The fact that we came up with the ability to stare down into the Human Genome came from HAR 1 is what is amazing. The fact that no one has told us about "beginnings" means that it is through HAR 1 that we can even discuss beginnings. Taken to its height. You can see how HAR 1 has led us to kill with justification in the act of war. The nuances of law and they are nuanced, all must tip their hat to the human ability to reason, make distinctions decide why this exceptional point should rule, and why this less than elegant point should dominate. The ability to decide between the irreconcilable and come to a new epiphany from a mass of confusing data.
Self Interest, Social Interest and Human Interest
HAR 1, the only element that is distinctive from animals, is an elegant gift because it allows us to be selfish, to be socially concerned and to be aware of all of us --- and we can do them all at the same time. And just like fighting for Democracy means you may be fighting for the freedom of a man who wants to spit on your grave, HAR 1 means that we can conjure up dreams from animalistic imagination to create a reason for pushing citizens into special situations that they were not born to -- all in the name of some "good". And so, if you want to give yourself a headache, think of all the things that mankind does that are first engendered because they come from some good (and how bad they end up being for most). This little DNA construction is probably likened to a famous Greek Symbol.
Pandora's Box
People have been writing about the symbolism of Pandora's Box for generations. I would like to pose another. The study of the Human Genome as the decades go on will be the source of so much confusion, clarity, argument and insight, that we can not possibly see it now. But, alas, as the decades have passed, I predict that the Study of the Human Genome will be the Ultimate Pandora's Box.
What is your HAR 1 Rating?
Perhaps at some time in the future a test will be devised which can demonstrate how much or how highly or how sophisticatedly you use your HAR 1.
"I have a 95 rating, what is yours?"
"They say he was a great guy, but his HAR 1 rating was ridiculously low. His epitaph will be that he was a fantastic actor."
"They say that her HAR 1 rating is so high that it is difficult for her to even socialize with the rest of us low lifes"
"Everybody in that family had super low HAR 1, then outcomes this great humanistic artist".
Infallible?
Just a few years ago, you would have a very hard time even explaining "cap and trade" and why those taxes should even exist. Just a few decades ago, the idea that there should be laws with a "social conscience" was very far from most people's consciousness. This HAR 1 makes us human, but you know what I know? It does not make us infallible. Because we are fallible, and the most fallible are the ones who think they are not fallible. A whole line of research could be developed over how our sense of righteousness, importance, intelligence and profundity all lead us down very dark roads. As you think about being human, and what ultimately the study of HAR 1 might reap, is that it leads us inevitably with the challenge that we have been fighting with over the millenia: "How do we reconcile what we feel we know?"
And this doubt should inform us. It might be advisable to think about where humility and modesty and self-reflection come from. Perhaps that will be the ultimate legacy of HAR 1. Christofer French is the Founder of Astrologygetalong.com and often discusses origins and beginnings and topics involving human behavior and philosophy.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)It was helpful,
Why the HAR1 gene not obtained by every one in this world if it was evolutionary for all these generations according to theory evolution?
it seems another process, other than natural selection was required for the 18 base pair substitutions between chimp and human. Chickens and chimps differ by 2 base pairs in the HAR 1 and are separated by 300 millions years of evolution. However, chimps and humans are separated by 6 millions years, and differ by 18 base pairs. this is also disagrees with observed mutation rates per million years, where 0 or 1 substitution is predicted.
Like the article. Well thought out. I'm not a biogeneticist, just a librarian, but as a secular humanist UU with a lifelong interest in early god/goddess anthropology, it is important that we continue these debates (as we are already destined to do!). Thank you for the free reprint rights as well. This liberal librarian fans you. Hello to Colorado--I miss it.Thanks for your comment. Yes, please feel free to reprint. Colorado is definitely a special place. Chris
I encourage and applaud the scientists and anthropologists that continue to make discoveries of this nature. All they are doing is slowly and unwittingly proving the existence of God. So by all means continue to explore, discover and invent. Then attempt to manipulate the evidence using your typical mosh pit of scientific terms and theorems in a valiant, but futile attempt to invalidate our Creator's existence. Read Renee Decartes' 2nd and 3rd meditations. He used unparalled philisophical logic and common sense to reach his final conclusion. Not convuluted scientific retoric attempting to encourage mankind to push the evolutionary "I believe" button. Even the alien theory has far less holes to patch.
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