Changing Bodies, Changing Minds: Genetic, Epigenetic and Media Ecological Approaches to Understanding D/Evolutionary Change

• In Event: Building a Bridge Between the Body and Technology

Abstract

This paper provides an initial overview of several sensible but subtle connections between media ecology and epigenetics. Epigenetics, sometimes described as a neo-Lamarkian theory of evolution, is essentially the study of how species adapt and change "over", "beyond," or "in addition to" processes of mutation and inheritance inside the gene. In other words, epigenetics is the study of the role of environment in speciation. Media Ecology may be able to provide a much needed bridge between traditional genetic (Darwinian) and epigenetic (neo-Lamarkian) understandings of evolutionary change. Indeed, after considering some of the latest research in cognitive science, media studies, developmental psychology and the new field of epigenetics, there is evidence of a convergence in these ways of thinking about human minds and bodies. I'll argue that beyond genetic-level changes that occur through mutation and natural selection, humans have always been subject to (and party to) a kind of double-inheritance: one from our ancestors, the other from the particular ecology or niche we are born into and develop through; including emergent biological systems and technological artifacts comprised of everything from food and language to clothing and computers. Analogous to the way certain bacteria in the human gut will afford or lead to different kinds of bodies, the argument put forward in this paper is that certain mechanical and symbolic extensions will lead to different kinds of minds. I'll draw out a rough sketch of some of the implications this distinctly biological approach holds for media studies, and media ecology in particular.

Author

• Robert MacDougall, Curry College