Racial memory

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Racial memory, more commonly known as genetic memory, refers to the discredited hypothesis that an organism lays down knowledge and experiences during its life time, that are in turn is carried or hardwired into its descendants, without the need of actual contact or communication.

Racial memory is at present not accepted scientific theory, as it originates from Lamarckism, a theory which fell out of favour after natural selection became the preferred explanation for evolutionary change. Current research into Evolutionary psychology bears a surface resemblance to the racial memory hypothesis, but is generally rooted in Darwinian theory.

Modern proponents of racial memory may cite studies into Nature versus nurture, epigenetics and particularly maternal effects. However, it is largely a fringe hypothesis, and is often connected with new-age beliefs. It is also a convenient and popular plot mechanism for science fiction authors.

Contents

1 Racial memory in Jungian psychology
2 Hypothetical biological explanations
3 Fringe areas
4 Scientology
5 Genetic memory in fiction
6 See also
7 Notes and references

Racial memory in Jungian psychology

In Jungian psychology, racial memory is a hypothetical type of memory which is not gained through experience or conditioning, but is inherited genetically, as part of a "collective unconscious" of the human species. Racial memory does not define a memory insofar as a specific recollection of an event; instead it references an inherent genetic recollection of the experiences of the ancestral line of any given individual, and how this influences his or her behavior.

Consider, Jungians argue, an individual with a fear of heights. "Racial memory" would suggest that evolutionary pressure on the gene pool of that individual's ancestors selected in favor of those afraid of heights. This view has since been discredited.

Hypothetical biological explanations

The role of "junk DNA" in eukaryotic DNA might play an important role in the transmission of so called racial or ancestral memories. The question must be put therefore as to what extent racial or ancestral memories can be encoded advantageously thereby. Several possibilities should come to mind, these would include: bird song memories, fingerprints, or ultimately "how the brain is wired" with respect to certain behaviours, which ought to in turn include the possibility.

Recent evidence^{[#endnote_chinese_dyslexia]}, as of September 2004, suggest that a different part of the brain may be involved in cases of Chinese descent who suffer from dyslexia, as compared to studies of persons of western descent who have the condition. Accordingly, one might suggest that it will eventually be shown that the aptitude for specific languages may be an inheritable trait, so that while in principle anyone can learn any language, it may be that the languages themselves are in some ways like mathematics and music, in that it is possible to inherit the ability to learn or even compose music or to perform well at math.

The more bold step then is to infer that certain ancestral memories will emerge spontaneously in any society or culture, as to say that certain ideas may appear in different cultures. For example, the Cinderella story exists in dozens of forms in different variants, quite possibly having been independently authored in different societies and cultures. In a sense then, ancestral memories are more likely to be soft-coded information phenotypes than they are to be explicitly hard coded in specific genes.

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Fringe areas

Although not entirely related to memory, laboratory experiments conducted on mice appear to indicate that a female that experiences extreme stress or anxiety will produce offspring with a body chemistry that give them a greater propensity for stress or anxiety, with the opposite being true for relaxed or contented mice. This would indicate that some components of personality may be transferred genetically.

The exact mechanism for transfer this is not currently understood, but stretches beyond learned reactions and personality traits passed on from parent to child through methods such as body language.

Some have theorized that it contributed to the spreading of early human beings across the globe, and others have claimed to have observed the action of genetic memory in the behaviors of Common Chimpanzees and Bonobos who have demonstrated the abilities of their ancestors (such as using a rock to open nuts) even when isolated from them without the opportunity for direct learning.

It has also been hypothesized to occur in amoebae seen to avoid toxic substances known to their genetic predecessors.

Scientology

Scientologists believe that various plots (Space Opera) used in science fiction are actual race memories of events that happened many millions of years ago. For example, Star Trek may be a race memory of a real United Federation of Planets.

Genetic memory in fiction

No incontrovertible scientific evidence exists for such a phenomenon, but it is a common plot device, or Deus Ex Machina in Science Fiction.

Stel Pavlou uses genetic memory as the central theme in the novel Gene 2005. The debate over nature versus nature is embodied in the two central characters whose revelations of past lives through genetic memory stretch back from modern day to the Trojan War.

J. R. R. Tolkien explores the idea of a linguistic race memory in The Lost Road and The Notion Club Papers, and speculates about the real world in English and Welsh.

Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End incorporates genetic memory as a plot device.

In Pierre Boulle's novel Planet of the Apes, important exposition is given by a primitive human who has been hypnotized into revealing subconscious racial memories.

The idea of racial or genetic memory is central to the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

Terry Pratchett uses race memory when his antihero Rincewind confronts the monsters of the Dungeon Dimensions, where race memory, (accessed by a Sourcerer, Coin) tells him not to use magic against them as it only makes them stronger in his Discworld book Sourcery.

The Goa'uld, an alien race featured in the Stargate SG-1 television series, possess a genetic memory.

In the Star Control series of games, there is a race called the Mycon that apparently possess racial memories from the Mycon that came before them.

In the novel Life, the Universe and Everything, an ancient series of terrible wars known as the Krikkit Wars manage to affect most civilizations in the Universe, including the one which would eventually become Earth. Vague racial memories of the events of the war lead the humans to create the sport cricket, forgetting what they're basing it on. The rest of the universe, noting how shameless it is to create a sport based on such horrible events, chose to shun the Earth due to its tactlessness, which is why Earth still remains uncontacted by aliens.

An episode of The X-Files dealt with genetic memory. A police detective is having visions of crimes committed by a rapist. It turned out she was the offspring of one of the rapist's surviving victims and in turn was his biological daughter. The urge to kill the surviving woman nearly overtakes her.

The alien species in the Alien films possess genetic memories.

In the Doctor Who serial Doctor Who and the Silurians, humanity is revealed to possess a racial memory of the (misnamed) Silurians, humanoid reptiles who ruled Earth in prehistoric times. Since the "Silurians" treated primitive humans as at best pets and at worst vermin, the racial memory is one of abject terror, and the sight of a "Silurian" can drive a person mad.

In the anime series Macross 7, the Zentradi, a cloned species, are revealed to have a racial memory of the Protodeviln, so terrible that they (and those of mixed human/Zentradi blood) are driven into wild rages by their close presence.

The Jack London book The Call of the Wild deals with a tame dog rediscovering his wolf heritage. As this occurs, he vividly remembers one of his ancestors living alongside a cave man. Interestingly, at the time the book was written, very little was understood about genetics and the idea of genetic memory did not seem to have been introduced. Jack London appears to have been ahead of his time.

Notes and references

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[Category:Psychology] [Category:Science fiction]

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