Genomic degeneration
 
As above mentioned the Vedas describe devolution and the last supporting point of this concept, we like to mention in this essay, is the ‘genomic degeneration.
 
John Sanford a horticulturalist and geneticist in his essay “How Much Mutation Is Too Much” has explained that it is becoming increasingly clear that most, or all, of the genome is functional. Therefore, most, or all, mutations in the genome must be deleterious.  No amount of selection can prevent a significant number of these mutations from drifting deeper into the population and consequently causing permanent genetic damage to the population.
 
NOTE: Genom is the total number of genes in the reproductive cell.
 
Therefore, the big question is how human genome, which can be thought of like a huge string or manual book of 3 billion letters, can be maintained despite of thousands and thousand of harmful mutations (misspellings) that are coming up in each generation. The answer is: IT’S NOT POSSIBLE. Some of the obvious symptoms of this genome degeneration are:

Genome degeneration started already long time ago and we are the carriers of the genetic diseases within our gene pool. The genetic faults are continuously multiplied and transmitted from one generation to another. Degeneration of the genome means degeneration of man and degeneration of mankind, we experience it on a personal level, and we see it all around us: in plants, animals, etc. One astounding example is the plants with large genomes that are more sensitive to radiation damage than those with smaller genomes. In one experiment it was observed that decreasing the large genome in plant species is the cause of their death when exposed to radiation.  There is nothing man can do to halt this decreasing of genome in plants, animals and himself. It is biologically inevitable and it is why species go extinct.
But let us now see few reasons why is the human genome degenerating.
 

 Cost of selection
 
The fact that all people are mutant makes selection much more difficult. If we were to simply select against all "mutations", it would mean no one could reproduce - resulting in instant extinction! Obviously this selection strategy creates a "reproductive cost" that is too high! It is widely acknowledged that we each inherit thousands of deleterious mutations - and so, collectively as a population we carry many trillions of deleterious mutations. However, to make the problem easier, let's limit our attention to just the 600 billion new mutations that entered the human gene pool within our own generation. Since we cannot simply select against "mutants" - we will have to select between individuals who are "more mutant" versus those who are "less mutant". (As we will see, recognizing "more mutant versus less mutant" is a huge problem in itself.) All this selection must cost us considerably less than 33% of the population per generation.
 
Let me try to illustrate the extent of the cost problem which is associated with selecting against 600 billion mutations. If we have a population of 6 billion people, then maximally only one third of them could be "eliminated" (i.e. from having no children for some reason). This is 2 billion people (try to imagine that - this thought should be enough to make even the most cold-blooded eugenicist shudder). Eliminating 2 billion people from mating would only eliminate 100 x 2 billion = 200 billion new mutations. This would still leave 400 billion new mutations as the newly added genetic burden for the next generation! Even if we assume that two-thirds of the remaining mutations are perfectly neutral, we still have 133 billion deleterious mutations added to the population. We just can't get rid of enough of the mutations and still maintain population size!
 
Even if two-thirds of the mutations are neutral, and in addition we doubled selection intensity (although we certainly cannot really afford to spend two-thirds of our population), it would still leave 67 billion new deleterious mutations for the next generation. The cost of selection clearly limits how many mutations we can eliminate per generation, and the known mutation rate for humans is way too high to be countered by any level of selection. Therefore, mutations will continue to accumulate, and the species must degenerate! Can you see that the cost of selection is rather a mind-boggling problem when viewed on the genomic level?

Near-neutral mutations

Nearly-neutral mutations have minutely tiny effects on the genome as a whole; they reduce fitness by a millionth of a percent or less. Mutations at all near-neutral nucleotide positions are automatically subject to random drift –which means that they are essentially immune to selection. Their fitness effects are so miniscule that they are masked and overridden by even the slightest fluctuations, or noise, in the biological system (Kimura, 1968, 1971, 1979).These are the most abundant mutations – as shown in the “near-neutral box” in Figure 3d.
 
Although most mutations are near-neutral, and so subtle that they cannot be selected (Kimura), still they are important because the nucleotide sites contain information, and their mutation results in the gradual but certain erosion of information…All such nucleotide positions will mutate freely, and all information encoded by them will degenerate over time…Collectively, near-neutral nucleotides must account for most of the information in the genome. (Stanford)
 
To understand the effect of the near neutral mutation we can give the example of the aging of our bodies. We can repair teeth, do facelifts, even replace hearts. But it is the cumulative aging of the individual cells (principally due to mutations) which places a specific limitation on our lifespan. This is true even though each individual cell is trivial and entirely expendable. Just as the human body rusts out due to countless microscopic mistakes (all of which in themselves are insignificant), the human genome must also be “rusting out” due to near--neutral mutations [that are very subtle]. No selection scheme can stop this process. This is the essence of the near-neutral mutation problem. This whole problem has led one prominent population geneticist to write a paper entitled – “Why aren’t we dead 100 times over?” (Kondrashov, 1995).The problem of near-neutrals being un-selectable is very real.
 
Selection interference
 
Due to logistical reasons the simultaneous elimination of large numbers of mutants cannot be stopped. This is another reason for genetic degeneration we will call “selection interference”. So, when there is selection against undesirable trait, because this undesirable trait is associated with desirable trait, the desirable trait will be also selected, whether the two are close associated (being part of the same gene) or loosely associated (when traits belong to two different genes). Actually, all the mutants are temporarily linked to thousands of other mutants and therefore, selection is not an isolated process. Selecting one beneficial mutation automatically includes multiplying the host of deleterious mutations. This problem is unavoidable.  (For more detailed description click here.)   
 Conclusion
 
According to Dr.Crow ’s own calculation the fitness of the human population is now degenerating 1-2%per generation (Figure 4). Considering carefully the nature of information it helps us see that the genome must degenerate. This common-sense insight is supported by information theory (Gitt, 2000).
 
Now the natural question that arise is can the biological effects of genome degeneration be reversed or in other words is it possible to negate the degenerative effects of entropy in living systems? The ultimate conclusion, as explained in the book “Genetic Entropy & The Mystery Of Genome”, is NO. Mutational entropy appears to be so strong within large genomes that selection can not reverse it. This Genetic Entropy is a logical conclusion derived from careful analysis of how selection really operates. This fundamentally means that mutation/selection cannot stop the loss of genomic information and what to say about creating a genome!
 
The reason for this is because selection occurs on the level of the whole organism, and cannot stop the loss of information due to mutation, which is immeasurably complex, and is happening on the molecular level .It is like trying to fix a computer with a hammer -the microscopic complexity of the computer makes the hammer largely irrelevant. Likewise, the microscopic complexity of genomic mutation makes selection on the level of the whole individual largely irrelevant. (Dr. J.C. Stanford)
 
If the genome is degenerating, then our species is not evolving, but is essentially “aging”.There appears to be a close parallel between the aging of a species and the aging of an individual. Both seem to involve the progressive accumulation of mutations. Mutations accumulate either within those cell lines which give rise to our reproductive cells or within those cell lines that give rise to our body cells. Either way, the misspellings accumulate until a threshold point is reached, wherein things rapidly start to fall apart, resulting in a distinct upper range for lifespan. Human life expectancy presently has an average of about 70 years, and a maximum near 120. However, when first cousins marry, their children have a reduction of life expectancy of nearly 10 years. Why is this? It is because inbreeding exposes the genetic mistakes within the genome (recessive mutations) that have not yet had time to “come to the surface”. Inbreeding is like a sneak-preview, or foreshadowing, of where we are going genetically as a species.
 
The reduced life expectancy of inbred children reflects the overall aging of the genome, and reveals the hidden reservoir of genetic damage (recessive mutation) that has been accumulating. If all this genetic damage were exposed suddenly (if we were all made perfectly inbred and homozygous)–it would be perfectly lethal – we all would be dead, our species would instantly become extinct.
 
The diagram of genomic degeneration
 
The first column is the duration of the 4 ages: the golden (that is the longest), silver, bronze and iron (that is the shortest).
The second column is the coming of the next generation what is in average after each 20 years.
The third column is the number of generations in one particular age.
The fourth column is the base pare mutation number (we could take a smaller number in golden age and increasingly bigger in others ages since the qualities of health longevity of life etc. all gradually decrease. However we took here the probable average number, in the firs scheme the smallest possible and in the second scheme the biggest.
The fifth column is the average age of a man in particular age. This also decreases as one age comes to the end, and in the other age people live shorter. Toward the end of this iron age the Vedic texts predict that people will live 30 years looking at that time already very old. One of the reason for this is certainly the genome degeneration.
The last column is the number of errors in the genome in one particular age.

Now, there are 3 billion nucleotide positions (each with 2 copies) in the genome, and so there are 6 billion possible point mutations (misspellings). Thus, if we take that the human genome was always the same size and the numbers of errors always 300 in one generation, according to the above calculation from the beginning of the golden age till now, the human genome degraded for 0.97325%.
 
Moreover, the total number of errors in the genome at the end of the iron age (that lasts in toto for 432.000 years), will be 1.0152% or 60,912,000 uncorrectable errors.
 
Now let’s take the errors in one generation to be the maximum 600 harmful mutations (misspellings).

 
According to this second calculation the human genome from the beginning of golden age till now degraded for 1.9465%. In the same line we can estimate that till the end of the iron age the degeneration of the human genome will be 2.16% what is equal to 129,600,000 uncorrectable errors.
 
This is quite a lot and already now we can see that because of this genome degeneration different species became and are becoming extinct. This we will describe in another short essay.
Here we would like to note that in the fifth column the life span in the beginning of the golden age is 100.000 million years but it is gradually decreasing. Some people in the next age can still live long in the next age e.g. in the silver age but this also diminishes and people begin to live 10.000 years and than gradually less and less. In the Bible it is mentioned that before 5-6 thousand years ago some people lived 900 years. Interestingly, the same is described in the Vedas and the in books of wisdom of other cultures all over the world. In the beginning of the iron age, that started 5.000 years ago, the decreasing of the age of people was very quick until it reached an average of 100 years. However, this also gradually more and more becomes decreased.
 
Here we would like to mention that philosophically and practically nothing can happen accidentally. Nobody has any experience that something happens itself. In other words, every effect has a cause. All the above mentioned genetic and lifespan degenerations are therefore caused by the controlling demigods and ultimately Krishna as it is described in the Bhagavad gita: mayadyaksena prakritih suyate sacaracaram. Whatever actions and reactions occur within the cosmic manifestation all takes place under the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
 
Now someone might remark: ‘If everything is degenerating and devolving then at one point there will be no life on this earth planet, everything will becom extinct.  Interestingly, however,  many Vedic texts describe that toward the end of each Kali yuga (the iron age) when people are very demoniac, atheistic and evil minded, the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead called Kalki comes on a white horse. The same information is also mentioned in the Bible namely that God will come on a white horse with a sword in the hand to establish order and piety in this world.
 
In the Matsya purana (144.60-90) we find the following description of the end period of Kali age:
 
“…and they become of short stature and their longevity gets reduced to 25 years. Due to excessive heat and famine the people abandon their families and homes and take shelter in the forest, on sea shores, in caves and on hills and mountains…when all the fishes and animals have been consumed they begin to eat plant roots…In this way almost all the population dies. The progeny of those who survive (on water and air) become more short lived…This status continues for 36,000 years, after which the first Satya yuga starts. In this age the bodies become very much like the one they have in heavens. And in this way the whole cycle begins once again.” (summary)
 
When at the end of Kali yuga the incarnation of Krishna – Kalki – comes, who is described to be more powerful than thousands of suns, by His power and good sweet will He rejuvenates (we can say the genome of) all the living entities. Thus, after His going away from this planet, again the golden age (satya yuga) starts and people again live for 100.000 years being very strong and healthy. The atmosphere is very pious. It is just like heaven on earth and a perfect circumstance for God realization to attain the God’s eternal supreme abode or the spiritual world of Vaikuntha or Goloka Vrindavana.
 
 
Appreciation: I would like to express my gratitude to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, His Grace Drutakarma prabhu and Dr. John Stanford and other creationist scientists whose brilliant explanations could make possible the writing of this essay. Hare Krishna.