FOXP2, sometimes referred to as the "language gene," is hypothesized to be a key gene in the development of grammar and language capacity, as well as in linguistic disabilities such as dyslexia and autism. Similar FOXP2 genes can actually be found across mammal, bird, reptile and fish species. FOXP2 codes for a transcription factor: a protein that enables other genes to express proteins. That is, although it's a single gene, FOXP2 actually influences an unknown (but significant) part of the genome, including the control of lung function. Because of its importance, FOXP2 is "highly conserved," meaning that it has changed very little over tens of millions of years.
But those rare changes have proven crucial. In humans, beyond its role in lung development, the presence of FOXP2 has been shown to be directly linked to language skills. At some point after the final split between the evolutionary line leading to chimpanzees and the line leading to humans, FOXP2 saw two small mutations. These seem to have been critical to the development of complex language.
In many ways, the real significance of studies of FOXP2 is more symbolic, signaling a shift in the way we, as humans, understand culture and our human communities. From the anthropological, sociological, and psychological studies of the past century, we are shifting our attention to the intersection of genetic science, neuroscience, and culture. Ultimately, FOXP2 stands for a new approach to thinking about human cognition and cooperation. Perhaps the future will find us developing genetic therapies to fine-tune our cooperative or independent behaviors.
Language and Cooperation:
The Shape of Human Culture
Initial research suggested that the critical mutations to FOXP2 happened in the last 35-50 thousand years, approximately at the same time as the rise of anatomically-modern Homo sapiens. Genetic tests on Neanderthal remains, however, show that this human cousin--which split off about a half-million years ago--also carried the mutated form of FOXP2. This suggests that the potential for complex language has long been part of the human lineage.
Many neuroscientists specializing in the evolution of the brain have argued that the proliferation of the human species has depended upon the development of grammar, allowing simple language to handle complex topics. This, in turn, enabled more complex forms of social cooperation, beyond the basic extended family structure found in other higher primates. Indeed, language is the basis of culture as think of it. Not only does it define socio-political identities around distinctive languages, laying the foundations for group identities that foster cooperation within and competition without. In its very rhythms and cadences, it may set up the fundamental process for synchronizing human activities across the smallest and largest communities. It may use our experiences of communication to shape us at the cellular level.
Cognition and Extinction:
Ballistic Foresight
In human history, the capacity for complex language alone wasn't enough to trigger the expansion of the species. One other key development was required: the capacity for foresight. This capacity arose from a surprising source. Alone among the higher primates, human beings have the ability to throw objects accurately, even hit moving targets. It turns out that the brain structures underlying this ballistic capacity are closely linked to long-term thinking. The catalyst for the rapid evolution of this ability appears to be a series of "whiplash" environmental changes over the past hundred thousand years--including a "supervolcano" eruption about 74,000 years ago that is believed to have knocked the entire human species down to a couple thousand families.
It's the dual capacity for complex language and foresight that allowed a species pushed to the brink of extinction to come back and dominate the planet. Along the way, Homo sapiens seems to have eliminated its one rival: the Neanderthal. Current science argues that Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalis did not interbreed in significant numbers, behaving much more like separate species. Neanderthal people, who had dominated the European land mass for millennia, died out quickly after anatomically modern humans moved in, about 35,000 years ago.
Given that Neanderthals, too, had the mutated FOXP2 gene, it's possible that they could express, at least to themselves, what they felt about going extinct.
Genetic Modification:
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As our understanding of the genetics of the brain improves, the question arises: what kinds of changes might we make to the way that we think?
The current use of neuroactive drugs (intended to treat problems) as brain-boosting enhancements suggests one possible path. Drugs to increase mental focus, improve memory, even stay awake for extended periods have become distressingly commonplace on both campuses and in cutting-edge businesses. On the near horizon are so-called "Gandhi drugs" that enhance cooperative and collaborative behavior.
One alternative would be to modify strategically, boosting the cognitive functions that give us a better chance at dealing with complex, global problems. Cooperation enhancement might do that, as could enhancement of the region dedicated to foresight (and as a side-effect, we might all become excellent ballplayers). But we don't have the first inkling of the side-effects of such treatments.
And the social side-effects may be even worse than the physiological ones. Questions of who decides, who gets access, and who pays for mistakes loom large when considering making changes--or, as many would argue, improvements--to human biology. Issues around cost, resentment, and liability are likely to loom large.