Use and Disuse: Application of the Theory to African Thinking-Ken Mwangi

Charles Darwin was an Englishman and a biologist and is best remembered for his contribution to the Theory of Evolution.  Sir Charles Darwin emphasized on natural selection where the dominant and rather naturally empowered species would prosper and the ‘weak species’ would become distinct over a period of time. This is what he referred to as the ‘Survival of the fittest’.  At the centre of the Theory is the maxim of ‘use and disuse’. I will not dwell on it scientifically but I’ll refer to it by this example: A person who was born right-handed can gain competence in the use and functionality of the left hand if he/she regularly puts it into use and for those of you who are conversant with zoology you can ably recall why man’s tail disappeared over time.

As I am building on my argument, kindly note that, as science has proven, or rather as was proven by Gregor Mendel in his ‘Law of Segregation’ is that the genotype is passed throughout a generation. This genotype is responsible for many of an individual’s character. This can explain the reason your temper is uncontrollable just like that of your great grandfather. The phenotype, which are the observable characteristic of an individual are influenced both by the genes and by the environment but note that the phenotype that is gained by the influence of the environment and is not intricate to the genes is never passed on to the off springs: a man who gains ‘cubes’ as a result of working out cannot pass the same to his son, and a woman who applies lightning lotion cannot pass the light skin to her daughter.

Now back to our focus on use and disuse. The brain as part of the human body is an area that requires regular exercise and that gains sharpness and alertness when constantly challenged and tested. And what is the best way to do that than by grabbing a book that is written by an African? Any African.  So is there a correlation between the development of the brain and the tasks that are allocated to us or we allocate ourselves on a daily basis or to our environment?  Now using the back ground knowledge presented above, let us task ourselves with the following question: Could the Africans have known civilization if the white man had not set his foot in Africa?

Let’s reconstruct a bit here. As the Western education teaches us, there are certain levels of development in the evolution of man. These are commonly known as the Rostow’s stages of development which are: Traditional Society: This stage is characterized by a subsistent, agricultural based economy, with intensive labor and low levels of trading, and a population that does not have a scientific perspective on the world and technology; Preconditions to Take-off: Here, a society begins to develop manufacturing, and a more national/international, as opposed to regional, outlook; Take-off: this stage is a short period of intensive growth, in which industrialization begins to occur, and workers and institutions become concentrated around a new industry; Drive to Maturity: This stage takes place over a long period of time, as standards of living rise, use of technology increases, and the national economy grows and diversifies and the Age of High Mass Consumption: Here, a country's economy flourishes in a capitalist system, characterized by mass production and consumerism.

That was Rowstow. Let us come to back to east Africa. In the same breadth, Richard and Mary Leakey have made great discoveries about the evolution of man and pointing East Africa as the cradle of human kind.  This is with the discovery of anthropological milestones such as the ‘Turkana Boy’.

Let’s recap a little bit; we are talking about two theories and one sub theory at the same time. These are the Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin, the Theory of Development by Rostow and the Theory of the Existence of Man, which is a sub theory in the Theory of Evolution. I pray that we intertwine the same with our focus being: if the Africans could have been left alone, would we be having mega infrastructure and would we be as connected to the world (which world?) as we are now? I am in no way discrediting Rowstow’s Theory but it is clear that he used past occurrences to come up with this theory. It’s like how you could refer to the voting history of Kenyans and by carefully studying the trends of the times come up with a hypothesis that would explain each and every election in a unique way and assign tags to each and every behavior.  Note that debate ranges on the theory of behaviorism and social science in general as human being mannerisms cannot be predicted without a huge margin of error since we react to different situations as to our emotions, most influenced by our present conditions.   

Following Rostow’s theory, we can ably argue that when the Europeans arrived in Africa, and in East Africa, this was in the mid 1800’s and during this time, if we were to carefully examine the African Society and then apply the Theory by Rowstow, then we were still in the ‘Traditional Stage’ of development, literally with all the characteristics.  And then lets apply Dr. Leakey’s findings and then we have a contradiction since it is well within the precincts of my understanding that unless otherwise, the longer the existence of a human community, the, more developed and sophisticated it is or it becomes. Therefore, if East Africa is the cradle of Mankind, where were we left behind or will we believe the theory of Evolution that man evolved from Homo Habilis and moved into Europe after the division of the continent and developed more that their ancestors who were left in Africa?

So does that mean that man who was left in Africa never used his brain and therefore according to the Theory of Use and Disuse it never developed? Why would a man in one corner of the continent not put his brain to use and another in another part of the continent developed in such magnanimous way through the application of his brain to solve society issues? The dialogue continues.

 (c) Ken Mwangi 2014
This is part of Ken Mwangi's paper that was presented to masters students of a local University. The full paper is available on written request to the author.

Ken Mwangi is the Chief Executive Officer, Intellectus Consultancy