Heroes: Evolutionary Pressures

[technosage]

So, I've been thinking more about the mutations and the abilities they grant...

Comments

[rhea_carlysse]

so I'm sure we'll see "God Loves, Man Kills" type arcs.

And thus, making me a happy fangirl :P

The other they I was thinking about what would happen if Sylar "absorbed" Peter, I don´t think he would stop killing, like you said, he seems to like it pretty much, but I think he´d at least kill less people for a while. He wouldn´t left any trails and could hide for a while, so I think that´d lead him to stop killing.

I still can´t decide whether Sylar is incredibly smart, or just incredibly psychotic. Probably both of them, and I love that, it makes him quite interesting and hard to predict, because you don´t know for sure whether he´ll act reasonable or just following his instincts.

Umm, I think I´m mixing my ideas for fics with the comment xD That´s what happens when you spend a whole afternoon studying Math. Math = teh Evil.

[technosage]

I'm not sure whether we can talk about Sylar in his pure state anymore. Gabriel was probably just a quiet smart sociopath but not a killer. HRG's people did a psych workup on him and they say all the DNA he's absorbed is making him insane.

But I do think Sylar would experiment with Peter's powers for a while. I think, though, he'd end up being jealous at sharing the power with whomever he borrowed it from and kill them anyway. *g*

[hebrew_hernia]

Hana tells Matt that radio-isotope tagging is used to track the spread of viruses. That's in part because viruses mutate and evolve ridonk fast because of the number of copies created to spread infection. Thus, they're tracking species drift as well as dissemination vector.

Allie, you're so SMART! This post makes me so squeeful because I love taking the fake science of Heroes and trying to make it fit with real science. Also, you abbreviated "ridonkulously." This makes me laugh.

One of the current theories on evolution is that [environmental] pressure drives speciation. Ie, when a niche shrinks or is threatened or is unduly limiting, the species that occupy it evolve. Thus marine animals left the water for the land, but sharks, apex predators with almost no natural enemies, have remained virtually unchanged for millions of years.

I think there's a tendency to look at evolution/natural selection almost as a conscious mechanism, especially in the context of Heroes because of Mohinder's voiceovery goodness. Obviously, I might be

[technosage]

I think there's a tendency to look at evolution/natural selection almost as a conscious mechanism, especially in the context of Heroes because of Mohinder's voiceovery goodness. On my way out the door, I'll answer this. There are new evolutionary theories that address evolution not as a conscious mechanism (the invisible hand) but rather thus: because there is a massive amount of environmental pressure, mutation occurs at a faster rate. Possibly this is owing to a higher birth rate, or possibly to other effects. Whatever evidence we have about evolution suggests that in fact it doesn't happen over the long term, but rather in "punctuated equilibrium." Massive bursts of speciation within a short period of time

[astrothsknot]

Sylar is a psychopath, who'd have began killing sooner or later. It's just that he'd be killing prostitutes or hobos or something instead of other Mutants.

I think he'd take all the powers that Peter has absorbed.

[technosage]

What evidence do we have of this? Gabriel lived an apparently quiet life. It wasn't until his abilities showed him how to be special - as provoked by Chandra's pushing - that he killed. HRG indicates the DNA manipulations have made him unstable and there's certainly a change from quiet, diffident Gabriel to spooky Sylar.

I'm not entirely sure I disagree with you, but I just don't see the evidence that Gabriel would've become a killer without the intervention of his mutation.

I recall we once also disagreed about whether Sam is a sociopath. Do you have some background in psychology? Or are you using these terms in a more colloquial fashion?

[astrothsknot]

No, I have an interest in psychology, ever since I jokingly took the psychopath scale thing at university and hit 34 out of 40. 26 is the level of some serial killers. Apparently the reason I'm not off killing the world is because I was raised in a very moral family who provided a cognitive framework for me without realising it at the time.

Gabriel's mutation did not lead him to kill. It is his obsession with being more that lead him to kill

[technosage]

Good argument. Like I said, I don't think I disagree, entirely, that Gabriel was sociopathic. Clearly, he seems to have isolated himself, and yes it was his desire to be more that lead him to kill, IMO

[wrenlet]

One of the current theories on evolution is that [environmental] pressure drives speciation.

[snip]

Mohinder's initial lectures seem to suggest that he and his father believe that the mutations are a result of this sort of pressure. And he tells Sylar there may be more every day.

Which begs the question, WHAT is applying the pressure? I mean, on the one hand there has been significant degradation of the global environment over the last several decades, but what if that's not it? What if there's a force moving in the world that none of the current players are aware of? (This could still be linked to the environment, by the way; consider how heavily they've leaned on the eclipse and continue to use its imagery even though we now know the expression of powers predates the eclipse by years, maybe it's a previously unknown form of solar radiation? Perturbations in the magnetic field?)

... yeah, I'm just babbling now :D

[technosage]

Still, it's a good question, Wren. I'm thinking it may have something to do with nuclear explosions or nuclear testing, considering that we know radiation causes increase in the rate of mutation. And we've got a nuclear explosion as a plot centerpiece, as well as Hiro whose grandfather died as a result of A-bomb poisoning (comics). So... maybe?

[raihon]

I think that the environmental pressure that the Sureshes seem to think caused these mutations in the first place is something different from the situational pressure that allowed Peter to "pull out the file cards" in his fight with Isaac, for example, or the situational pressure that sent Nathan flying out of his convertible the night of the accident. There's the "what caused the mutation?" question and "what triggers the manifestation?" question

[technosage]

Oops, I wasn't very clear. I'm not meaning to suggest that they're the same, rather that there's a parallel. Viz, that "pressure" is a key feature, regardless of whether it's environmental or situational.

As to the other, if you read me to be suggesting there's a God in this evolution, I'm not. At all. Unless that god is a scientist or an experiment that went bad. *g*

[raihon]

No, I'm not reading *you* as saying God's involved, but if we're taking the Sureshian theory into account, we should also take the Hatian theory ("what you can do, what I can do, that is God.") into account, especially since there's so much other God, uh, stuff, in this series. :)

[technosage]

Ahaha, yes, I think maybe we can/should. Mohinder does say God is a cockroach. *g* Um, I think I read the Haitian's "that is God" as saying that evolution=god rather than there's a God outside of evolution initially, but it makes sense that he might be spiritually inclined. Certainly Mohinder has a spiritual side.

It's an idea I'm playing with for a crossover I'm working on, in the moments when I'm not working on anything else. *g*