Acquired Everything

So one of the basic ideas of natural selection and evolution is that you don’t inherit acquired traits: even if one’s parents are triathletes, that doesn’t mean their baby will automatically have glistening, rippling muscles (I just grossed myself out).  It may sound pretty obvious to you, smartypants, but there once was a highly respected scientist named Lamarck who seriously thought that giraffes had long necks due to generation after generation of giraffes stretching their necks to reach the highest leaves on trees.

This is just stupid.

Think about what life would actually be like if you were born with all your parents’ abilities and knowledge and pancake-flipping expertise.  You wouldn’t even have to go to school because you would have all the information with you from the beginning.  Technology could accelerate at lightning speed because the next generation of engineers wouldn’t have to waste 20 or 30 years “learning” and “understanding” physics, calculus, and quantum mechanics… they would have all this information on day 1.  This would be amazing!!! (But do you see any pitfalls yet?)

You wouldn’t have to learn how to ride a bike, you would just know because your parents know.

You wouldn’t have to learn how to play the piano, you would know because your parents know.

You would be born with all your parents knowledge–their education, their experiences…
(But really think about this for a second… it should totally gross you out.  You with me here?)