Will Tourism Be Shaped by Epigenetics?

In recent times we have experienced some technological advances, especially with regard to artificial intelligence (AI) that even scare us. However, everything indicates that we will have no alternative but to learn to deal with the fact that machines are capable of replacing us in countless activities and actions. This is all reminiscent of literature, then considered as science fiction or fantasy by Isaac Asimov and other authors, which made me travel imaginarily into a future that arrived much faster than I could have assumed.

Virtual reality technology is already present in much of what we consume, easily within reach of a mobile device or not, in which we download an application.  We choose products in stores and markets or have fun in daydreams through nature, museums or other places. We experience new "realities" in a new, virtual world.

In virtual reality (VR), we are stimulated by sounds and images provided by a computer that takes us out of the "real world" and transports us to a new environment, awakening our senses and even altering our perception of the very reality in which we live. Today, among other possibilities, we can travel and get to know places we dream of and where we would like to be, escaping our daily routine, often tiring and absolutely the same.

Tourism and reality(s)

Whenever we think of tourism, we immediately think of its great complexity – inherent to interdisciplinary or multifaceted areas or themes. It is difficult to define or even conceptualize something polysemic that we nevertheless "feel" or "experience. At first, we are faced with something that cannot be explained only quantitatively, since it brings, in itself, a great affective and emotional charge. I do not intend to discuss the psychological aspects themselves, of will, choice and pleasure involved in travel. I only suggest a brief pause to think about human relations within what we call "reality" – or would it be "realities", in the plural? and, based on this, we will seek, together, some relationship with tourism today and in the near future.

In a very simple and direct way, let us take the concept of tourism as the movement of people, especially those who are voluntary and desired, who leave their usual place of residence to get to know or rediscover new and/or old places, stay there for a period and then return to their origins.

Today, we have countless Sites that offer tourist experiences in virtual reality. They are immersions that allow us the most varied experiences in a world that mixes realities – the one in three dimensions in which we are immersed, and the virtual one, lived in electronic devices.

Tourism and epigenetics

At this point, I can raise a question: will living this virtual reality, experiencing and experiencing such diverse emotions and feelings, deep or not, living so immersed in digital technology, change our understanding of the world? In a while, or right now, will we react or react differently to the stimuli we receive in the real world, where we actually "live with"? There are those who claim that digital technologies will require an increasingly humane world, in the sense that we need human presence and coexistence. Others not so optimistic, project a future inhabited and led by machines and human beings who will be increasingly robotized, automated, almost incapable of reacting to feelings and emotions.

I do not pretend to have these answers. I only want to bring to reflection a contribution from biology, more particularly, from genetics.

In these times of innumerable "realities", we no longer have the patience to think or to wait – we want immediate answers, as if life were lived in a kind of "click" on a very sophisticated computer of very high speed and not, as it is, a phenomenon that is delicately and meticulously carried out, in its own time, in the course of its own rhythm. In this time and space, mutations, adaptations and evolutions take place.

We have learned that genes are responsible for biological inheritance. However, in modern times, researchers have focused on the study of Epigenetics , which deals with the expression or silencing of genes No change of DNA. There is a body of evidence that habits and social or natural environment can, in fact, modify the functioning of genes. Thus, we have another area of study that is dedicated to "cultural heritage", the one that seeks to understand the storage and transmission of information through communication, imitation, teaching and learning that humanity has been developing over the millennia of the Earth's settlement. This type of inheritance would be transmitted by the brain and not by genes, despite having a genetic basis, since genes determine brain structure. For scholars of this subject, cultural inheritance is the last stage in the evolution of heredity, a result of epigenetic mechanisms.

This reasoning leads us to the thought that evolutionary transitions no longer occur from the selection of competitive individuals, but from well-integrated functional groups. These transitions present patterns that include new divisions of labor, loss of individual autonomy, and the emergence of new routes of information transmission.

There is enough data to consider an individual, cultural evolution different from genetic evolution. Thus, cultural inheritance would have a greater adaptive capacity, generating more adaptations in the group than genetic inheritance, including a higher frequency of gene-culture coevolution than genetic evolution. Examples include the emergence of docility and reduction of aggression; vocal modifications and social learning. It is also believed that cultural evolution tends to be faster, that it has greater adaptive capacity.

What else could be so current?

It is possible that someone asks: and how can epigenetics, inheritance and cultural evolution relate to tourism and the different digital technologies that use virtual reality? Earlier, I commented that virtual reality is a "technology that takes a person out of the real world and transports them virtually to a new environment", awakening our senses, and can even alter our perception of reality. Today we can travel without leaving home, thus contradicting the very definition of tourism. Certainly, our way of experiencing life has been modified and these cultural changes are certainly affecting and will continue to alter our behavior and our way of responding to the most different stimuli of life, in all its aspects.

This brief reflection led us through interdisciplinarity, bringing concepts from genetics and epigenetics, showing us the need to pay attention to behavioral changes that can lead to genetic changes without them happening in our genes. Virtual reality is already part of our daily lives. Virtual travel is already possible. Our emotions, feelings, and reactions are being stimulated and satisfied in this new way of living.

Therefore, the last provocations remain: are we on the threshold of a new human evolution, this time, technological, cultural, epigenetic? In the coming years, will human beings react differently to travel? Will you still travel to see other places, people or cultures or will the "virtual" be enough for you?