Distinguish knowledge, skills and abilities.

Knowledge is an acquired understanding of things, which is formed through learning, experience and experience.

The difference between "skill" and "ability" is not so obvious.

From the most basic point of view, ability is innate, and skills are acquired through learning.

Ability and knowledge combine to create useful skills.

But these concepts are just our usual definitions. However, with the deepening of genetic research, the development of science and the continuous advancement of philosophical boundaries, the connotations of these concepts "knowledge and skills" are also changing.

Is knowledge hereditary?

The goal of any cognitive mechanism is to promote learning (even machine cognition). In the process of a species' understanding of the environment, it must focus on something in a certain way and operate the object in a certain way, which is beneficial to the survival of the species. Therefore, the species must obtain the operation behavior that is considered to have survival value in order to obtain the survival advantage.

The conscious operation of everything (such as making tools, making clothes and building houses) is realized through the cognitive process. Cognitive ability is gradually accumulated through thought, evolution and natural selection, and its purpose is to promote the acquisition of those operational abilities with survival value, while those operations without survival value are eliminated and abandoned.

Therefore, what is learned through biological self-evolution will eventually become the innate "ability" of living things. But in a sense we can also call it instinctive "knowledge". But the meaning of "knowledge" here is different from what we mentioned earlier.

For example:

Above: Composition of internal knowledge

Human language is a mixture of innate ability and acquired knowledge.

Human language is a very easy-to-understand and distinctive mixture of "ability" and "knowledge". We can call it a kind of "ability" with imperfect evolution, or a kind of knowledge and skill that depends on "instinct". So we see a mixture of innate "ability" and acquired "learning" needs of language:

The instinctive part of language can be said to be "some kind of knowledge" accumulated and passed down by human ancestors in the long process of evolution, but we now define it as an instinct. The non-instinctive part of language is obviously acquired knowledge and skills.

Image above: The evolution of hyoid bone enables us to control vocal cords. This skill has been strengthened in the generations of human ancestors and passed down as our physiological structure and instinct.

Therefore, it can be said that our language ability is inherited to a great extent, and its basis is neuroanatomical structure, which connects cognitive structure with the evolutionary needs of genome. Since our ancestors acquired language skills, we no longer need to consciously consider the skills of using or operating our vocal organs, because that has become instinctive or at least semi-instinctive.

In addition, it is reasonable to think that language will never become a completely spontaneous instinct (unlike the howling of some animals), because it involves acquired cognition and needs to operate objects with changing characteristics according to changes in the environment. The motivation to learn a language may be an instinct of our species' self-reinforced skills with survival value, because this motivation requires us to express a desire for communication and abstract conceptual thinking with symbols, and these skills may be regarded as a measure of personal intelligence, so they are chosen by nature and society-people who are eloquent are better at thinking and have a higher chance of survival. No matter what the potential pressure of choice is, language cognition may remain stable in a continuous evolutionary pedigree, and this instinct is constantly strengthened, so human beings will "speak" more and more, and their language ability is getting stronger and stronger.

Above: The evolution of language center.

It is generally believed that specific facts and knowledge cannot be passed down from generation to generation through the genome, but learning hobbies or tendencies can. However, at some point, the tendency to learn and the knowledge actually learned overlap, so both of them can be passed on to future generations through integration into the genome. But this situation is so complicated that it is difficult to find examples to describe it. Usually, this kind of inheritance is not the specific knowledge of the object we operate for survival, but the roughly abstract relationship with things. Examples that are not entirely appropriate but easy to understand may include our instinctive fear of snakes, blood and darkness. This knowledge remains in our genetic material in a rough and abstract relationship, and eventually becomes the looming knowledge that we can't control. After all, the transmission of genetic information is full of distortions. Only by constantly strengthening and maintaining it from generation to generation can certain characteristics be inherited for a long time.

The direct connection between brain and brain can be regarded as the mapping of the neural network controlled by genome to the actual configuration of things in the environment, which is constructed and expressed in the brain with metaphorical tendency or mapping as the meaning or consciousness tendency.

If we think that our thoughts, knowledge and skills are constantly developing entities, there must be interaction between them and the environment, so as to test whether such thoughts, knowledge or skills are beneficial to the survival of individuals. Therefore, ideas, knowledge and skills that cannot interact with the environment cannot be passed on. What is really likely to be transformed into genetic "knowledge" is the "knowledge" that constantly interacts with the environment from generation to generation and finally solidifies into genes and is passed on to the next generation.

Of course, in addition to conscious knowledge, some unconscious experiences will be inherited. For example, the life experience of malnutrition caused by famine may be passed on to the next generation in the form of epigenetic information, which will make the next generation have unique hobbies for the neural response of nutritional metabolism, such as "eating" and sweets. This is also a kind of genetic knowledge.

An example of genetic memory

Leslie Lemcke is a musician, although he has never taken music lessons in his life. Just like the "blind Tom" Wiggins a century ago, his musical talent developed so early and spontaneously that it was impossible to learn. The two of them are completely "factory preset". In both cases, professional musicians have witnessed and confirmed that Link and Wiggins can use the so-called "rules" or a wide range of musical languages in some way, even without formal training.

Above: Leslie Lemcke's photo and author are published in the Sunday magazine of 1988 Chicago Tribune.

Allonzot clemons never took an art class in his life. When I was a child, I started to carve with something easy to find (Chrisco or something). Now he is a famous sculptor. He can make a perfect specimen of any animal with clay in an hour or less. The position of every muscle and tendon of the animal itself is perfect. He has no formal training.

Genetic memory is complex ability and practical complex knowledge, as well as other more typical and generally accepted physical and behavioral characteristics.

Genetic memory is not a brand-new concept. 1940, AA Brill quoted Dr. William Carpenter, who compared the calculation ability of mathematical genius Sheila Kolben with Mozart's mastery of music creation and wrote:

Carl jung used the term "collective unconsciousness" to define his broader concepts of genetic characteristics, intuition and collective wisdom.

Wilder Penfield also mentioned three kinds of memories in his groundbreaking work Mysteries of the Mind (1978). He wrote that "animals in particular show evidence of so-called racial memory" (equivalent to genetic memory). He listed the second kind of memory, which is related to "conditioned reflex", and the third kind of memory is "experiential" memory. The latter two types conform to the terms commonly used for "habit or procedure" memory and "cognitive or semantic" memory.

Whiteboard: A Modern Denial of Human Nature published by Steven Pinker in 2003 refuted the theory of "a blank sheet of paper" for human development. Brian butterworth pointed out in his book "1999, It's Important: Every Brain Has Mathematical Hardwiring" that babies have many special innate abilities, including digital abilities, which were inherited from the "digital module" encoded by their ancestors' human genome and lasted for 30,000 years.

Marshall Nivenberg of the National Heart Institute of the United States published an article entitled "Genetic Memory" in JAMA of 1968, which deeply discussed the actual DNA/RNA mechanism of this innate knowledge.

Whether it is so-called heredity, ancestral or ethnic memory, intuition or innate talent, this concept of gene communication far beyond instinctive genetic knowledge is a necessary condition to explain why excellent intellectuals know what they have not learned.

We tend to think that we are born with a grand and complex organic machine (or "hardware"), which we call the brain, and a huge but blank hard disk (memory). It is generally believed that we constantly add the accumulation of study and life experience to this storage space. However, some outstanding people seem to have many natural skills programmed into their genes and brains (just like "software" pre-installed in factories) and show extraordinary abilities in his or her professional field.

Indeed, a large number of cases of "acquired knowledge" or "accidental genius" make us think that maybe all of us have this kind of factory-installed software.

Some people will show explosive and sometimes amazing musical, artistic or mathematical abilities after head injury or illness, and these abilities remain dormant until these intact brain regions are requisitioned due to injuries in other areas.

Finally, the animal kingdom provides many examples of complex genetic ability beyond natural characteristics.

Monarch butterflies travel 2500 miles from Canada to Mexico every year and spend the winter there. In spring, they started a long journey to the north, but it took three generations of butterflies to complete. So the butterfly never flies the whole route. How do they "know" the route they have never learned? It must be inherited GPS-like software, not a learned route.

Songbirds such as sparrows, thrushes and warblers learn songs by listening to other people's voices. On the contrary, songbird species, such as storks and their relatives, have inherited all the genetic instructions needed for these complex aria. Even if sound insulation is maintained, songbirds can make their usual calls without formal training or study. There are many examples in the animal kingdom. Very complex characteristics, behaviors and skills are all inherited and born. We call it animal instinct, but this concept has not been applied to the complex skills and knowledge inherited by human beings.

Above: Differences of vocal nerve pathways in birds.

abstract

In a sense, the characteristics of knowledge and skills can be inherited.

Dragon begets dragon, phoenix begets phoenix, and mouse is born to make holes, which is a perfect summary. But in fact, the inheritance of genes is much more complicated than this. It is also related to quantum theory. 1, what's on DNA?

Everyone will get a complete set of DNA from their parents when giving birth. And at the time of birth, it provides general DNA, which is combined with the other half provided by the partner, and the offspring also have a set of DNA.

Everything is in the DNA. For example, the risk of cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, as well as genetic diseases and personal characteristics: like height, appearance, fatness and so on. There are also food allergies, whether you can drink alcohol and so on.

In short, except for trauma, birth, disease and death, everything is more or less related to genetic DNA.

2. Inheritance of knowledge and skills

There is no clear proof of this, what will be inherited and what will not be inherited. There are many examples in reality, for example, newborn babies will close their eyes when they are in danger, cry instinctively, and knee jerk. The exploration of genes continues, and the secrets of many gene DNA are slowly discovered and decrypted.

3. Theoretical basis

Is it possible to pass on knowledge and skills to future generations, such as the words we recite, and learning to drive, ski and so on? But genetic DNA is very stable. Can it be inherited?

It's quite possible. Let me talk about a few reasons first:

(1) Epigenetics:

That is, the coding of gene DNA remains unchanged, but the related performance changes, and the epigenetic changes can be passed on to the next generation. For example, we often say that genes are the design drawings of the human body. After the design is completed, will they be painted with different colors during construction, or will they change color under certain conditions?

(2) Genes can store:

In 20 17, scientists stored six files, including an operating system, a movie and a computer virus, into DNA and read them completely and correctly. That is to say, genes can store information, just like USB flash drives, which can be read and written. Then it is possible that the words you remember will be passed on to future generations by storing them in genes.

(3) Schrodinger's quantum gene theory:

Every cell in our body has 3 billion base pairs, which are copied and changed at the same time. But the error rate of DNA replication is often less than one in a billion. In this process, there may be some force in the containment and influence. So as to keep the gene stable, but also make minor changes, so that human beings can slowly evolve. However, whether quantum mechanics plays an important and direct role in gene mutation needs further study.

Generally speaking, epigenetics, genes and storage, and quantum gene theory all contribute to the transmission of gene DNA. Provide unlimited reverie. But for the study of genetic DNA, we have just begun, so we can put the answer into the future.

There is only biological inheritance in human DNA, but the inheritance of knowledge and skills can change DNA inheritance through environmental changes, thus indirectly affecting biological inheritance! The most obvious is Darwin's theory of biological evolution, and the biggest driving force of biological evolution is environmental change and natural selection.

Before answering this question, make clear two concepts:

1. What is biological inheritance?

Biological inheritance generally refers to the phenomenon that parents' traits are displayed in their offspring. Genetics refers to the phenomenon that genetic material is passed from parents to offspring. DNA is the genetic material of human beings.

For example, the color of human eyes is a typical genetic example. Individuals may inherit the characteristics of "brown eyes" from their parents.

2. What characteristics can be inherited?

As we all know, biological phenotype (in short, human height, height and thinness) is the result of the interaction between genotype (gene control) and environment. Obviously, not all biological phenotypes are heritable. For example, people's tanned skin comes from the interaction between phenotype and sunlight, so tanning will not be passed on to future generations. Therefore, the phenotype formed by genotype can be inherited, and the phenotype formed by acquired environmental factors will not be inherited.

To sum up, a person's knowledge and skills are the result of acquired learning, and it is certain that they will not be inherited, but the ability to learn knowledge and skills is likely to be inherited.

Yes, just crying. Babies cry at birth. This is a skill, inherited from the previous generation. Think about it, why doesn't the baby cry like a bird? Why is it not the cow's voice? Why not sing? Crying is the sound made by a certain structure of the brain that triggers the vocal cords of the throat through nerves. This structure of the baby has been generated in the mother's development and passed down from the previous generation. The arrangement structure of other parts of the brain is also inherited, but many of them are blank and have no information record.

Parents' personality and knowledge will actually be "inherited" to their children to a certain extent, but not through DNA inheritance, but through long-term life with their children. Because the child is a blank sheet of paper when he was a child, he is in the period of character building, has no knowledge and experience reserves, has no ability to distinguish, and is used to imitating his parents' words and deeds, so his personality will be deeply influenced by his parents. Dragon begets dragon, phoenix begets phoenix, and mouse can make holes. Successful parents can easily give birth to successful children, and failed parents can easily give birth to failed children. One of the important reasons is that personality can also be "inherited".

Why can't knowledge be inherited? This is because information such as knowledge cannot be written into human DNA.

The information and knowledge or skills carried by genetic material DNA are two types, which are stored in different ways.

Genetic material DNA has two main functions.

First, provide a blueprint for building organisms. For example, why do spiders have eight legs? Why do some insects have six legs? The body structure of fish, birds, animals and people is determined by these blueprints.

Second, the information recorded by DNA must ensure the basic ability needed by organisms for survival and reproduction. Like some creatures' basic sports ability, feeding ability, mating and spawning ability, these animals know it from birth. For example, small fish can swim when they hatch; When a turtle is born, it will climb into the sea. And these are more important and obvious to lower animals. The information that DNA preferentially stores is the instinct of every creature, and it has the ability without learning.

And the knowledge or skills we talk about are all information obtained through learning, which generally exists in our brains.

According to the general scientific theory, this information is stored in the form of memory. Memory is a specific connection between nerve cells, which is transformed into nerve signals by strengthening external stimuli. If these neural signals are transmitted and strengthened in a certain circuit in the brain. We can save this information, and at the same time, this information can be read, that is, remembered or recalled.

But most of these neural signals are short-lived and will soon disappear, which is called temporary memory.

Only through long-term continuous strengthening can this information become long-term memory and personal accumulated knowledge.

Therefore, the different storage methods lead to the inability to inherit knowledge and other information, and the carrying capacity of DNA information is limited, which makes it definitely give priority to the storage of biological survival skills.

It is not a bad thing that knowledge cannot be inherited. Although some people may say that if we can inherit the knowledge of the previous generation at birth, it will be better and save more time to learn new knowledge, but if we can really inherit the knowledge of the previous generation, it means that we will inherit the memory of the previous generation, which is terrible.

Because everyone born in this way can't be a new person, a real "I", but a continuation of the life of the previous generation.

In fact, there is no need for heredity. Humans have learned to record useful knowledge through language, characters and images for future generations to learn.

Not only can the old knowledge be passed down, but also some previous knowledge can be iteratively revised through new individual thinking. This is more conducive to the development of human wisdom and civilization and social progress.

In short, it is actually a good thing that human beings do not inherit knowledge through DNA. It has brought greater possibilities to the development of mankind.