By Luis Yerovi Jr.

Living in the 21st century is a complex predicament for the human psyche. Technology and globalization have put us in uneasy contact with everyone in the world. "Deprived" of isolation, our self-identity is threatened. Furthermore, "pop" culture, "pop" politics and "pop" markets swamp our already saturated neurons. Not only is our identity in chaos, but the reality of our world is hidden behind an industrial propaganda fog.

The threat to identity of technology and globalization is felt most acutely amongst citizens of developed countries. It is not a coincidence that drug use is most prevalent amongst those living in bland, homogenous societies such as those found in the "first world," where even nationalism is reduced to "brands" and "shopping" is a patriotic duty. It is also not surprising that in a media-driven, shove-it-down-their-throats industrial society, blind consumption has become a psychological compulsion for many (i.e. I am worthless if I don't own the largest Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV)).

In developing countries, the choice for those not swayed by colonialist agendas are to either resist globalization and cling to increasingly extreme visions of what defines us from "others" (Jihad) or passively blend into the western vision of a consumer culture without borders (McWorld).

Keeping this struggle between the "brave new world" of globalization and "primitive" desire in mind, I would like to ruminate about the question of identity: where did it come from and where will it lead us.

As a naturalist, I like to think of identity as a combination of genetic and cultural components, which has evolved through time in response to the force of natural selection. As such, our identity has a natural history.

All living things in the world, from bacteria to plants to animals to humans, have a specific and definable evolutionary history. This history can be studied through amino acids and genes, in the relationships of ecosystems and through the fossil record.

Human evolution is part of natural history. As opposed to other species, human history reflects not only the evolution of genes but the evolution of memes or transferable ideas. Memes make up human culture and their evolution is termed cultural evolution.

At its most basic level, identity begins with the immediate family- first born, second born, sister, brother, mother, daughter etc. The nuances of these relationships are held in common with other social species, like the chimpanzee or the elephant, and are based on the concepts of survival and procreation.

Further, our identity, again like in other social animals, is extended to the "group" or extended family. This extension of the self to the group is evidenced from the earliest hunter-gatherer "societies" to recent collectivist societies such as the Bedouins. This leads to behavior such as altruism, which evolved and survived because it was beneficial to the reproduction of the group.

Confounding these instinctual and biological roots of identity come those identity markers arising from our cultural or meme evolution. Foremost amongst these memes are religious identity. These identity markers are unique to humans. For example, gazelles are neither Buddhist nor Muslim, they are just gazelles.

Like genes, memes only survive if they confer on the individual or social group "reproductive" advantages.

Applying these naturalist observations to the three major monotheistic religions and their relation to human identity, may facilitate an understanding of current tragic events in the Middle East. To wit.

A few days ago, Jews around the world celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover. Passover commemorates the night some three thousand years ago when the enslaved Jewish people were spared their god's (Yahweh) wrath of striking dead every first born Egyptian (an example of Almighty sponsored terrorism?). Death's "passover" was accomplished by the sacrificial slaughter of lambs and the smearing of their blood on the doors of those to be saved. Through death and widespread terror, the Jewish people, the self titled "chosen ones,"were liberated and led to the Promised Land- historic Palestine.

The Judaism meme, the most ancient of the three monotheistic religions, has its survival advantage. For one, the belief in the supernatural relieves existentialist angst. Secondly, Judaism emphasizes the preservation of the group and its genes ("real" Jews share a maternal bloodline) and unites self-identity with group identity. This emphasis adds to the cohesiveness of the "group", further enhancing their survivability in a world seen to be highly competitive.