Gator Sex and Complexity

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It's easy for social learning advocates to notice that alligator sex can be determined by how warm the egg is before it hatches. Warm eggs become boys, cool ones girls. All of us balk somewhat at complex, human behavior as an expression of genes. This is perhaps one continuation in the "naturalization" of humankind -- the sun no longer circles about us (Ptolemy), we obey natural laws (Darwin), we have "animal" instincts (Freud), and we listen to our heritage, whether lectured or inseminated and whether we are aware of it or not.

Complexity Theory (Kauffman, 1991, 1995) suggests that one- or two-gene effects will be unstable and more sensitive to environmental changes. The fewer the genes, the more fragile the outcome. More than 3 shared interactions, in contrast, produces great stability of output. Multiple genes allow more consistent features, fewer digital ones, and a richer mix in which intensity of a trait's expression varies more often than the frequency of the trait itself.

Thus, human characteristics, because of redundancy in genetic determinants, may be more, rather than less, resilient to trauma and environmental mishaps than is the case with gator eggs or insect eyes.

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