The World is for the Fittest

The idea of natural selection seems to be applicable to living things. Those who "fits" the environment will survive while others who are "less fit" will get eliminated.
Such was the idealism of Makoto Sishio, an antagonist in the anime series Rurouni Kenshin. He applied this to the society, resulting in the loss of many human lives.
What was wrong with his idea that made him seem "evil?"

Consider having a garden, pretend planting flowers in the garden. You water the flower and watch the flowers grow. Now and then, grass will grow around the flowers. Knowing that the grass will impede the growth of the flowers, you prune it away.

But doesn't grass fit the soil better than flowers do? Why does the fitter gets pruned away? According to natural selection, shouldn't the flower be the one to be pruned?

In a garden, being able to grow with minimum requirements - in which grass is better than flowers - is not the criteria for "fitness." The owner of the flower garden wants the garden to look nice in human eyes. Looking nice is the criteria for "fitness" in a garden. Thus, flowers survive while grass get pruned away.

I believe this was Sishio's mistake. Taking the new era of Meiji as the symbol of today's world and samurai skill as ability to adapt physically to environment, samurai skill is no longer the criteria for "fitness" in Meiji era. With new thinking pattern prevailing in society, his own pattern makes him "evil" in the eyes of society.

Just a small footnote:
While walking in countryside near my hometown, I saw a cabbage and chilli plantation. As the price of both kinds of plant dropped so severely, the owner of the plantation decided to abandon the plant and concentrate more on other kinds of plant.
At the sight of the abandoned plantation with rotten cabbage, dry chilli, and a thick later of grass, my mind worked out the above argument. That is why I used a flower garden as an analogy. Not very creative, is it?

Any follow-ups, comments or objections to my view?
Contact me: at comp dot nus dot edu dot sg with dennyisk before the at

Last edited: Friday, 8 June 2001

The material published on this Web page is personal, and is not endorsed by or the responsibility of the National University of Singapore.