Freedom from procreation
It is the most potent force in the universe, a prime mover of everything, from flaking a stone right through to piercing the atmosphere, all in the pursuit of this immutable life goal. The need for procreation compels us to do whatever it takes, to ensure that our genes continue on their journey to eternity. Genes are biological transmitters of information. To achieve endless transmission, genes deploy the carrot-and-stick method. They make us think we are unique and therefore, worth saving, i.e. survival (carrot). Then, coerce us to transmit our DNA cocktail before we kick the bucket through reproduction (stick). As soon as we contribute our half of the spiral, we dilute our uniqueness. It becomes insignificant a mere three generations after we are no longer here.
Procreation, aside from providing us with a few quick moments of ecstasy, duped us. A false promise, a farce perpetuated since time immemorial and brought to bear on us by our immediate progenitors, our parents. Like us, they will never admit it; but they are rooting for their genes, not for their children.
It is a ridiculous notion. Within a few generations, your patch-work genetic make-up is nothing but a fragment of another temporary embroidery. If we are to be utterly cynical about it, we share fifty percent of our current DNA with plants. Essentially, we are nothing more than a giant walking, talking Dionaea Muscipula — Venus flytrap.
Trying to acquire immortality through procreation is futile, but there is another way to transmit information across the generation.
We all heard of Beethoven, Joan of Arc and Aristotle. These are strong information legacies that have travelled through hundreds and even thousands of years. Finding a direct living descendant of these legacies, I would suggest, is close to impossible. These three examples have survived until today through their ideas: music composition, a fight for freedom, and the search for man’s essence.
Ideas are memes.
Some may think that a meme is a GIF (Graphics Interchange File) of a cat chasing its tail, they would be right, that is also an idea. However, according to Richard Dawkins, the non-biological father of the concept, a meme’s definition encompasses any form of non-biological information. Language, a painting, a Facebook post, a religion, an article of clothing, a pyramid and a convertible Tesla launched into space, are all memes.
Memes not only transcend time but they guarantee uniqueness.
In Central Asia of today, one in eight men carries the Genghis Khan family’s gene that lived eight hundred years ago. This proliferation is not surprising since the great Mongolian king created an empire stretching from dusty downtown Ulan Batur to Vienna’s leafy suburbs. Without detracting from the numerous Central Asian men’s personal achievements that possess this monumental genetic fragment, they will never become Temujin.
In a global population of seven billion and growing, having twelve children and them having twelve children resulting in 124 grandchildren and continuing in this trajectory until we have 15376 great-grandchildren is, still, statistically insignificant. The genetic fingerprint is insignificant; the unique proposition is insignificant. And the insignificance is insignificant.
In contrast, an idea that is created by you today is a unique fingerprint of you, undiluted it will live forever. There is no guarantee that it will be as famous as the examples above, but it will be all you, and forever will be.
As someone who feels this tremendous coercion by my protein spirals and their accomplice DNA contributors, I may sound aggrieved. Perhaps one day, I will have a continuation, and this will become a moot point. I am not advocating for not having children; this is a personal choice. I would like to suggest that a trend is evolving, that of lack of procreation. Already, we see many non-reproductive life strategies. In today’s obtuse environment, they are derided as sick, ungodly or unnatural. However, soon, when we convert ourselves into ‘ones and zeros’, a new enlightenment period will begin. In the universal grand opera, perhaps, the genes are the ones that will go extinct, we will gain real immortality albeit as a meme.
The purpose and conclusion of my modest meme are to assuage the pain of those who have not yet bred. If you feel the urge to leave a legacy: write, paint, design, tell an original joke, create an Instagram post, or launch your ashes into the asteroid belt. Any of these actions, be they simple or complex, are memes and have a better chance of surviving the test of time than any of your ungrateful biological spawn. If all fails, try to conquer Asia or frequent your nearest sperm bank and cast your DNA into the genetic sea lottery.
Or console yourself with the thought that eternity is just too fucking long.
