From the Editor
The Spirit of Survival
Luis Ayala
I recently wrote a series of articles for Artisan Spirits Magazine, documenting the evolutionary paths taken by organisms around us, including virus, bacteria, yeast, etc. All of these organisms have survived in their present forms because their specific adaptations or mutations gave their species a survival advantage over their competitors.
Us humans too, are able to adapt to increase our ability to survive, but unlike the aforementioned organisms, we don’t rely solely on biological adaptations (Innate or Instinctive Behavior) that can be passed down from one generation to the next via our DNA: we also are masters of Learned Behavior, which can be passed down via social interaction or the studying of published material.
While scientists around the world are working hard to develop an antidote for the current threat, people are -whether they know it or not- behaving in ways that are setting precedent for how they will respond to similar situations again in the future.
If vaccines allow us to survive this and all the future threats we will face as a species, the least we could do in exchange for that luxury is to make sure that the species behaves in a way that makes it worthy of being preserved.
Placing the survival of the individual over that of the species is not the winning strategy adopted by all the successful organisms around us, yet we look around us and see hoarding of resources by the few, to the detriment of the many. Evolution does not reward those who threaten their own species!
On a separate note, we are very fortunate to have the best contributing rum writers in the world, working hard through these difficult times, bringing all our readers another monthly issue full of facts, news, history and much more. So stay home, stay safe and be kind to all!
Cheers,
Luis Ayala, Editor and Publisher
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rumconsultant