Mutation produces variation, mutation is the cause and variation is the result. Mutation is the change of genes or factors, and variation refers to the change of visible characters.

The genetic mutation information of biological inheritance flows along the direction described by the central rule, which affects the traits. That is to say, the mutation produced by DNA is transmitted to protein through RNA, so that the structure and function of the body can be observed. The variation information of meme in cultural inheritance also works along its own central principle, that is, the change of meme is transmitted to society through the media, which leads to the change of thought and action. Variation is the cultural difference observed after meme expression.

Let's further explain the reason of variation by analyzing the phenomenon of variation. In cultural inheritance, the most common variation refers to the cultural differences between groups, followed by the differences between individuals in groups.

Cultural differences between groups

Taking China culture and western culture as an example, we can clearly feel the differences between them. This paper briefly lists the differences between the two cultures in language, writing, thinking, philosophy, science, art and social life, and then analyzes the reasons for the differences.

Language differences are the starting point of cultural differences.

As we have analyzed before, language is to express concrete things with abstract sound symbols. Language can be divided into pronunciation and semantics in structure (vocabulary and grammar in function). Because everything in the world is the same, there is no big difference in human physiological mechanism, so the languages of various ethnic groups have little semantic difference. The biggest difference between languages is pronunciation. For example, to express the concept of "cost works", modern Chinese uses [ξ55] to form the word "book", while the same concept uses [buk] to form the word "book" in English. The long history of the independent development of Chinese can be roughly divided into five periods: (1) the period of primitive Chinese without characters; (2) Ancient Chinese, pre-Qin times; (3) Middle Ages, Sui and Tang Dynasties; (4) Modern Chinese, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing; ⑤ Modern Chinese, after the Opium War. Linguists have noticed that there are many monosyllabic words in ancient Chinese. Although there is a tendency of disyllablization in modern Chinese, there are still more monosyllabic words than in western languages. In Indo-European language family, polysyllabic words account for the majority. The difference between this single and many is noteworthy.

Chinese began to use ideographic characters from the pre-Qin period, that is, "a writing system that expresses the meaning of words or morphemes through the combination of figures or symbols." The basic feature of ideograph is that it marks the meaning of a specific word, rather than the sound of the word as phonography did. The basic units of ideographic characters are strokes "-,︱" and "个临" with specific rules; The basic units of phonetic symbols are letters "A, B, C, D" and so on. It is worth noting that the Chinese word zi is quite different from the western word zi in function. The word "zi" in western languages, that is, a word composed of several letters, is generally tangible, phonetic and semantic. With the help of a certain word form (spelling method), a certain pronunciation can be expressed, thus conveying the meaning of the word. In ancient Chinese, the word "zi" is often the unity of form, sound and meaning, but in modern Chinese, the number of disyllabic or polysyllabic words has increased, and a word often has only form and sound without meaning. For example, the word "glass" of grapes and the word "Portugal" are just morphemes of one word. In other words, a word in western languages is a word, and a word in ancient Chinese is also a word, which can be used independently to express concepts. However, a word in modern Chinese cannot be said to be a word. Although Chinese words can have multiple chapters, Chinese words will always have a single chapter.

Scientists have not found any necessary connection between language phenomena and thinking methods. Does thinking decide language, or does language decide thinking? Do people just think in words? If people only think in language, the form of language will inevitably affect the way of thinking to a great extent. The author believes that the thinking process can be divided into two stages. The first stage is completed in the subconscious, which can be called internal thinking. In the process of internal thinking, the stimulation of external information or the excitement of memory will arouse the reason of thinking and make it in a functional state. Just as sleeping genes in cells can be awakened to work. The purpose of internal thinking is to stimulate thinking, and the second stage of corresponding thinking is to express thinking with the help of pronunciation and grammar.

In the whole process of thinking, which links may produce differences, thus causing cultural variation among groups? First of all, we assume that all groups (cultural groups such as races or countries) feel the same about a particular thing. The so-called empathy means that the senses have the same perception of things. If you see a ball, people can feel that it is a circular solid. Feeling is the basis of inner thinking. Because there is no difference between groups in thinking objects and feeling about objects, it is reasonable to think that there is no obvious difference in the thinking process within human beings. In other words, there is no obvious difference in the mechanism of activating thinking factors among different groups. Many differences stem from the "external" thinking process, that is, the external performance of thinking factors, and of course, the differences of thinking factors themselves. The main reason for the difference is the different way of thinking. The process of "external" thinking is the process of bringing the reasons in the subconscious to the field of consciousness. Language is closely related to this process. There are many variables in the language. The four elements of language are phonetics, semantics, vocabulary and grammar. The first two are abstract components of language, while the latter two are concrete language components. Among them, the pronunciation is changeable and the semantics is relatively stable. Lexically, the pronunciation of words is as changeable as pronunciation, and the meaning of words is relatively stable. Grammar is actually a logical level, which is the embodiment of the relationship between concepts in language. So, to put it simply, the language differences of various groups are not mainly manifested in semantic and meaning differences (of course, there are also differences or even omissions in meaning, for example, a primitive tribe found in the Philippines has no words such as "war" and "weapon" in its language, which is a problem of cultural evolution rather than cultural variation), but differences in pronunciation and grammar. Figuratively speaking, expressing ideas is like giving gifts, and giving gifts in China and the West is the same, that is, expressing ideas is the same. But the box used to wrap gifts is different. Although it is difficult for us to see the inevitable connection between language differences and thinking differences, we can still analyze the way of thinking by comparing language phenomena. Just like we look at a beautifully packaged gift and guess its packaging process.

As mentioned above, early Chinese used to put a complete word meaning into a monosyllabic word, while in western languages, the corresponding word was put into a disyllabic word. If the meaning of a word is compared to a gift to be given, and the sound and shape of a word are compared to a gift box, it is not difficult to find the difference between Chinese and western thinking. Obviously, China people like to put gifts in small boxes with complicated structures (complicated font structure and short pronunciation); Westerners, on the other hand, like to put gifts in a large box with clear structure (simple and legible fonts and many phonetic symbols). Facing these two boxes of gifts, let's imagine their packaging process and the influence of this packaging on the gifts. In this way, we may find some laws of thinking process and thinking characteristics.

What does it take to put a plastic gift of a specific size into a small box with complicated structure? Due to the limited packaging space and complex spatial structure of word meaning, before packaging, the packager had to consider the packaging object comprehensively and shape it to make it suitable for the relatively fixed packaging body. The process of packaging is the process of thinking, so China people's thinking is holistic. Readers may have noticed that I am talking about words, not spoken words (which I just discovered). In fact, the same is true of language phenomena. "Pure" language phenomenon is a language phenomenon without words. Unfortunately, no one can say what our predecessors said thousands of years ago, and there was no tape recorder at that time, so we don't have exact information to discuss the influence of phonetic differences between Chinese and western languages on our thinking. If we discuss it (try it), we should also start with the smallest structural unit syllable in pronunciation. According to the popular syllable theory in China, every syllable is pronounced, and the muscles in the throat are tense once. For example, a string of phonemes in Chinese, first, if the pronunciation muscles are tense once, it is [ce and ε n55] (fresh). If you are nervous twice, it is [ce and 55] [an55] (Xi 'an), two syllables. Because words are phonetic symbols, we can also know indirectly from words that Chinese tends to put a relatively complete concept into a monosyllabic word.

In short, from the perspective of language and writing, we will find that our thinking has a strong integrity, and we like to adopt comprehensive and inductive methods when observing things. Because only in this way can a conceptual thinking result be compressed into a relatively small language shell.

Relatively speaking, westerners' thinking is more inclined to analysis and deduction. This can also be found in the language and writing. Especially in terms of words. Western languages evolved from hieroglyphics to phonography earlier, from complex paintings to abstract letters, which shows that they are very sensitive to sounds. Pay attention to distinguish the meaning of words from the sound at the beginning. In the transition from painting-like symbols to words, that is, from the time when someone explains the painting to the time when it can be understood without explanation, westerners and China people have different goals when facing the attention of the interpreter. Westerners pay attention to the speaker's voice and want to learn more from it, while China people stare at the painting and want to draw the meaning. Explanation is just a foil. Perhaps this is the watershed between ideograph and phonography. Why? Who knows?

The form of language and writing will inevitably affect the way of thinking. How come? It's not clear yet. People in different languages don't know how different their ways of thinking are. I only talked about some vague understandings. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the problem of cultural variation, so let's get back to the point.

Philosophy is the basis of cultural differences.

Philosophically, we can also clearly understand the differences between groups. In the last century, some famous thinkers in the west believed that oriental philosophy only recognized that the ontology of freedom was true, and individuals opposed to ontology had no value, and only when they were integrated with ontology had real value. Therefore, eastern philosophy generally emphasizes identity, while western philosophy emphasizes particularity. "The task of China's philosophy is to unify counter-propositions into compound propositions" (A Brief History of Chinese Philosophy by Feng Youlan). China people are very good at "seeking common ground while reserving differences" and seeking common ground through differences. China's philosophy emphasizes "Great Harmony" and the unity of man and nature. That is, the unity of ontology and object. As Mr. Feng Youlan said, "... when students studying China's philosophy began to study western philosophy, he was glad to see that Greek philosophers also distinguished what was and was not, what was finite and what was infinite. But to his surprise, Greek philosophers thought that nothing and infinity were lower than existence and finiteness. In China's philosophy, the situation is just the opposite. Why is there such a difference? Because there is a difference between existence and finiteness, there is no difference between nothingness and infinity. " In other words, western philosophy advocates distinction, likes to say what something is, and likes to make positive judgments. Philosophers get satisfaction from it; Oriental philosophy believes in undifferentiated infinity and thinks that roaming in infinity is the most "carefree". We like to say that something is not what, and maintain its undifferentiated aesthetic continuum through negation. For example, philosophical beliefs are like gold in the sand. In order to get gold, western philosophers like to choose gold from sand by positive methods, while eastern philosophers like to choose sand from gold by uncertain methods. In this way, everyone got the psychological satisfaction of faith. It's hard to say who gets more gold. Western philosophers may laugh at eastern philosophers, saying that our gold has impurities, but what is vague is not pure gold; On the other hand, orientals will also say that it is impossible for western philosophers to pick out all the gold in the sand, give up a lot of pure gold and be content with what they get, and have a little pure gold in their hands. That's it, we are satisfied with "I have never lost gold in the sand." For the perfection of gold placer, it is better to have impurities. Western philosophers, on the other hand, are satisfied with "I got pure gold" and would rather lose some for the purity of gold. If the amount of gold-bearing sand is certain, then westerners will one day be able to pick up gold and leave a pile of sand; East Renye Fang will one day pick out the sand and leave a pile of gold. But is placer gold limited?

China's philosophy has always been a philosophy of life, a philosophy of how to be a good person, just like our religion and our spiritual sustenance. However, China's philosophy is not preaching. The beauty of classical philosophy is that people face the harshest reality and dream the best dreams. "On the surface, China's philosophy focuses on society, not the universe; It is the daily use of interpersonal relationships, not a hell paradise; It is a person's life, not an afterlife "(Feng Youlan). It seems that China's philosophy has entered the WTO. In fact, "it entered the WTO and was born again." Reality and dream are not two unrelated things in China's philosophy, nor are they contradictory. They are the unity of mutual influence and interaction. The most beautiful artistic conception is a realistic dream or the reality of a dream, that is, the integration of entering the WTO and being born. This unity is so strong that people are unwilling (and not used to) to distinguish between reality and dreams, subjective and objective. The analysis of objective things and phenomena is not common.

Western philosophy emphasizes distinction. First, separate reality from dreams, subjective from objective, and then divide them on the basis of division. The result of differentiation is fragmentation. Either society or the universe; It's not for daily use, it's a hell paradise; Enjoy this life or wait for the afterlife. At the two extremes, theoretical systems ―― science and religion are formed. The result of the distinction is conflict, and science and religion have always been in conflict with each other in the West. Science is associated with the failure of religion, and the decline of religious authority makes people feel that they have lost a pole. So science and technology are used instead of religion, and psychological and physical explanations are used to meet spiritual needs. "But fortunately, besides religion, there is also philosophy, which provides a way for mankind to obtain higher value-a more direct way than religion, because in philosophy, in order to be familiar with higher value, there is no need to take circuitous roads such as prayer and worship. ..... In the future world, mankind will replace religion with philosophy. This is in line with the tradition of China. " . Mr. Feng Youlan said it very well. I think this is also the reason why we emphasize the construction of spiritual civilization. We can't lose one pole, nor can we be biased towards one pole. As long as the spirit is not material, the ten-year Cultural Revolution tells us that it is not the way for China people. As long as material is not spiritual, it is a road that China people are not used to. Harmonious coexistence of spiritual civilization and material civilization is the way of China and the way of the world.

China's way of thinking (wholeness) determines China's philosophical characteristics (great harmony), which also determines China's art and science. The so-called art is the language to express the subconscious. Anything that can arouse people's subconscious reaction is art, such as the common phrase "Spring is coming". If it is said in a small talk between friends, it is not the same as the artistic effect on the stage. Everyone is talking about the former, so we don't understand the meaning of this sentence. The latter audience is feeling, and they are trying to experience the inner world revealed to them. So this sentence reminds them of the green, warm spring breeze of the earth, the continuous refreshing spring rain, the recovery of life, flowers, fragrance, and the beautiful life in flowers. You may also think of deafening spring thunder and the majestic power related to thunderstorms. Art is both expression and feeling. As long as you feel, life is not art everywhere. A smile, a breeze, a grass, a cloud … The whole nature is the greatest art, because nature can make human beings feel infinitely. That kind of unspeakable feeling will drive people crazy, only feeling uneasy, fidgeting, wanting to sing, wanting to shout, wanting to express, wanting to write but unable to write. Nature is the origin of human beings and art. An artist is first and foremost a perceptor. All his inner dryness caused by beauty and sadness is buried in his heart, but when it cannot be suppressed, it will be revealed. This inner outpouring is art, and artists have to reveal it. It's really unbearable! However, this revelation of one in ten thousand is enough to arouse people's inner feelings. Beethoven once said, "Why do I write? -the things in my heart must be revealed, so I write. " Real artists don't become artists just because they want to; He must become an artist.

Art and science are concrete manifestations of cultural differences.

Some people say that China's art is not as developed as the West. It is said that our music has not developed a complete chord and orchestration system, and there is no symphony; Our paintings are inseparable from mountains and rivers, and our architecture is not brilliant enough. In a word, our artistic expression ability is not strong. Indeed, symphony can give people a more three-dimensional aesthetic feeling; Putting a disabled bicycle in the exhibition hall is also reminiscent of many people. The attraction of western art is certain. But China's art is "weak" because our philosophy is too strong to express. Zhuangzi's article "Foreign Things" said, "People who weave baskets are too caught in the fish and forget the basket; People with hooves are so free that they forget their hooves when they get rabbits. The speaker was so concerned that he forgot his words proudly. I am confident that my husband will forget what he said and talk to him! " If you talk to someone who forgets your words, you don't talk. In Zhuangzi, it is said that the two saints want to see but don't speak, because "the Tao exists after witnessing". Once you have achieved your goal, you should forget it. Since it is no longer needed, why bother with words? (Feng Youlan) We regard language and other expressions as pure tools. Once you can achieve your goal without tools, you'd better not. Therefore, we have not paid attention to expression, and even think that it is not elegant to express by means of tools, because China's philosophy emphasizes great harmony, the unity of things and me, and the unity of people and me. So "I" and "you" feel the same, and "I" also feels "you", so why express it? The best expression is not to express. Even if it is expressed, it has a strong taste of "Datong". For example, for music with the same theme of rivers, western composers will describe to you all kinds of flowing forms of vltava river, Rhine and Danube with absolute objectivity: sometimes calm, sometimes turbulent, one swelling and one sharp turn. It's like telling us the story of the river, interspersed with touching plots from the source to the heart. It is also music with the theme of river, but our composer does not describe it absolutely objectively, but is integrated with the river. The river is me, and I am the river. Such as the ancient song "Mountain Flowing Water" and the modern Yellow River chorus "Yellow River Complain" and "Roar! Yellow River and so on. In the ancient song "Mountain Flowing Water", through the expression of music, we feel not the flow pattern of rivers, but the flow pattern of "I". "I" is like a drop of clear spring water, sometimes jumping happily, sometimes spinning in place, and sometimes staring blankly at the scenery on the river bank. At the end of the song, "I" finished the story of "I". I'm expressing my feelings, and I can't distinguish between subjective and objective. Therefore, it can be considered that China's art pays more attention to feeling than expression. So the expression method is simple and natural. We think that nature is enough for us to feel, so why should we be artificial? What's more, human beings always destroy the harmony of nature.

In science, the recognition of China's philosophy is also fully demonstrated. Taking medicine as an example, China has always regarded man as a whole, as the counterpart of the universe and nature, and as a part of man. The concept of wholeness is a functional concept, that is, wholeness only exists when there are functional activities. Therefore, although Chinese medicine is satisfied with the heart, kidney, liver, spleen, lung and other internal organs, they are not the names of anatomical structures, but the names of functional units. Chinese medicine won't tell you where the heart is and what it looks like. She is not interested in it. She is interested in the function of the heart. If you must ask, Chinese medicine will tell you "it's on you." The implication is "not on the ground" (negative method). Because according to Chinese medicine, when it comes to heart, you are full of hearts, and there are hearts everywhere. Maybe you die, your functional activities stop, and your heart is gone.

Western medicine pays attention to discrimination and affirmation. So they dissected the human body and saw the organs of the human body. Not with the naked eye, but with a microscope, an electron microscope. They often say, "Show me, prove it to me." Most of their theories are based on structure. Their scientific methodology focuses on structure, and scientists are used to studying function from the perspective of structure. But our methodology focuses on function and likes to analyze the structure from the perspective of function. No wonder when western medicine and Chinese medicine acupuncture, they always want Chinese medicine to show them the meridians. They want to know whether these "threads" are blood vessels, nerves or muscles. They should use their own cultural background to understand and explain Chinese medicine, hoping to know what something is (positive method), and it is best to see and touch it. This really makes Chinese medicine very difficult.

The theory of traditional Chinese medicine is based on yin and yang and five elements, which correspond the human body to natural yin and yang and gold, wood, water, fire and earth (five elements). Yin-Yang and Five Elements are the laws of natural movement revealed by China's philosophy. As a part of nature, people should abide by these laws. Therefore, the activity of the human body is the harmonious function of the five elements under the general principle of yin and yang. Disease is the abnormality of the movement of Yin-Yang and Five Elements. Correcting the yin and yang of the human body with natural yin and yang is treatment. Therefore, the treatment of traditional Chinese medicine is therapy. The theory of western medicine is structural. They think that diseases are caused by structural abnormalities, so treatment is trying to make up for structural defects, often by artificial methods. The difference in theory is also obvious in the treatment method. In traditional Chinese medicine, patients with cold will use different prescriptions according to whether they feel cold (yin) or wind-heat (yang), as well as the time and degree of onset, and the dosage and dosage can also be different. For a cold, western medicine is much simpler. Influenced by the structural theory, western medicine is now divided into very fine points, and every organ and even every disease has specialized experts, cardiologists, nephrologists and digestive system diseases. This is also difficult for Chinese medicine to understand. In traditional Chinese medicine, the heart and small intestine are coupled, which is related to the tongue. How to branch?

Cultural "species" is determined by the quality of group information.

All these cultural differences between China and the West are reflected in all fields of our social life. As long as you compare it, you will feel it, so I won't list them one by one. What determines the differences between different groups and cultural differences? Yes, it's a meme, and it's this inexplicable meme (I believe China people can understand the concept of meme more easily because it is based on function. Kind of like meridians or acupoints. What is this? Not what? It doesn't matter to us, the key is to work. We can use it to explain things and deal with things, and the effect is not bad, no matter what! ) In biology, the formation and division of species is based on reproductive isolation. Due to the influence of geographical environment and climate change, the population originally belonging to a species has been isolated in geographical distribution, or the mating and breeding season has changed. In short, due to various factors, a certain group was separated and formed two groups. But this division has not formed the difference of "species", because once the members of the two groups get together, they can produce offspring through reproduction, that is, there is no reproductive isolation. If the separated population exists independently for a long time, many influential variations have taken place within the population, so that the isolated (geographically isolated) population can no longer produce offspring through reproduction when they meet again. That is, reproductive isolation occurred. At this time, people say that new species have formed. The basic basis of biological "species" division is reproductive isolation. So what is the basis for the division of cultural "species"? I have discussed the cultural differences between China and the West for a long time, but what is the standard to distinguish them? Is there also a mechanism of "reproductive isolation", which contributed to the formation of cultural "species"?

Yes, the formation of cultural "species" is due to "reproductive isolation" in the process of reproduction. In biological classification, each species has its own particularity, which is determined by genes. But it is not the form of the gene that determines this particularity, but the content of the gene, that is, the composition of the DNA molecule has not changed, and DNA is always composed of bases, phosphoric acid and ribose, which changes the order of the bases in the DNA molecule. In terms of cultural inheritance, the situation is similar. It is not the form of thinking that determines the particularity of culture (thinking is always a functional unit of physics-chemistry), but the content and combination of thinking. In biology, because the form of genes will never change, it is possible for people to connect human genes with the DNA of bacteria and viruses through some technologies, and vice versa (genetic engineering). In cultural phenomena, it is also because the form of memes remains unchanged that we can communicate memes of different cultures through translation. However, without translation, memes of two cultural groups can't communicate naturally, just as without advanced technology, genes can't communicate (interspecies). This shows that the division of cultural groups should be based on the "reproductive isolation" of thinking, that is, no communication.

Because cultural inheritance belongs to biological inheritance, the division of cultural groups overlaps with the division of ethnic groups in anthropology and is consistent with the division of communities in sociology. The division of human population is mainly based on the particularity of skin color, hair and other traits. With the development of science today, people can already find evidence of racial division at the molecular level. But the division of cultural groups is not a simple division of people. Of course, people of the same race can be attributed to a cultural group to a great extent, because they share the same culture, but how many cultural differences do two groups have to have before they can be divided into two cultural groups? The range of culture is very wide. Are groups divided according to customs such as clothes? Or does it overlap with anthropological racial division? According to the former, people who love sweets and people who love spicy food should be divided into two cultural groups, which is too detailed. The latter division cannot explain the problem of cultural differences. Language is the most representative of cultural characteristics, the most obstacle to the exchange of thinking factors, and the "reproductive isolation" of thinking factors is also language. Therefore, it is more reasonable to divide cultural groups on the basis of common language. It should be noted that sharing the same language means that there are signal systems that can understand each other in the group. For example, there are many dialects in China, and sometimes there are great differences between the northern and southern dialects, so we can't communicate orally, but we use the same language, so linguistically, we are still a group.

Language consistency is not the only criterion for dividing cultural groups. Another important criterion is whether the ideas expressed in language are accepted by the group members. For example, people in many colonial countries speak the language of colonial countries or are bilingual, but they are two different cultural groups because of different values and different levels of civilization. In short, the quality of information in the crowd is different. Because the reproduction of thinking is not only based on the ideas of communicators, every cultural group has a "transplant immune" reaction to foreign cultures, which is exclusive. Therefore, when we divide cultural groups, we should not only consider the quality (language type) of group information, but also look at the quantity (civilization degree) of group information. Cultural groups are such a unity of information literacy. Not limited by geographical conditions, especially today when the development of mass media has turned the world into a "world village". Cultural information of the same quality and quantity can form a group. For example, we can regard mathematicians all over the world as members of a cultural group because they share the same symbol system. On the other hand, it is also possible to think that Christians all over the world are a cultural group because they support the same values. National administrative divisions often combine various information quality factors to form a stable group. Therefore, the simplest and most applicable way to divide cultural groups is to take the country as the unit. In this way, the differences between countries in politics, economy, law, science and technology and art can well represent the cultural characteristics of this group. Moreover, limited by administrative boundaries, cultural exchanges between countries are affected in all aspects, resulting in estrangement. Due to the existence of this cultural barrier, the cultural variation produced in one group is not easy to pass on to another group, and the exchange of thinking factors is isolated.