Propagation methods

I have been wondering for quite some time of how 'how to survive best' gets propagated in us. To explain more, one being has a something which increases its chances of survival.  And so that’s something which 'might' increase others chances of survival as well. But how does this something get transferred to another being of the same kind?

Lets first categorize the 'something' here. It could be a physical feature or a behavioral trait. The second one is quite a broad term actually, because it includes not just behaviors but also any thing that a being knows. Lets just say anything which is not a physical feature. 

Well the physical features get inherited through genes. And the behavioral traits through learning. (that was my big aha moment btw). And both of these propagation methods don't have a lot of overlap. Lets analyse further:

Genetics	Learning
Propagates physical features	Propagates Behavioral aspects
Flows uni-directionally (parents to children)	Flows multi directionally : Whoever notices that aspect and thinks its useful, can learn it.
Slow mechanism. Since it only goes from parents to children, it will take atleast one generation for the mechanism to show up.	Very Fast mechanism : Can be adopted by many in the same generation.
Difficult to propagate across species, generations, ethnicities, age groups et al	Can propagate between different species (we learn a lot from animals), between different generations, ethnicities et al.
Difficult to mix and match, a very serial process. What this means is that mix of different features in a class of features happens over a generations, so a long period of time. Also features from different strains at the same time, so in a sense it’s a serial process. Try features inherited in one   generation, if works then persist and add to in another generation.	Mixing and matching happens all the time. In simple behaviors also, you learn micro behaviors from different individuals and try them out.
Unconscious method of propagation : The beings have no control over what gets propagated, so in essence this is a random method without any input from the being as such.	Conscious method : The being choses what behavioral aspect to adapt and persist.
Chances of bad features (which don't help in survival) persisting is very low.	Since the being consciously choses which behavior to keep, they can chose behaviors which are not good for survival. Like criminal activity which increases your chance of being shot.
Single objective, long term in its view. The only objective is survival.	Multiple short term objectives, like I want to make money today, want to relax tomorrow.
Course correction not possible.. And that’s why it can lead to extinction.	Course correction possible, and done very often.

As we look at the differences, it also becomes clear why there are two methods. Physical traits are difficult to implement, and less forgiving. If you are born with a wrong physical feature, which diminishes your chances of survival, there is not much you can do. But behavioral aspects can be changed. Also its easy to try out behavioral features and decide whether they are good or bad.

And so the physical traits have a more rigid, single focus, zero control propagation method. As there are chances of extinction,  the method is also slow and well measured. Only the best persists. But on the other hands learning and re-learning are a constant process. 

Maybe it might be right to say that genetics is natures way of safe guarding the species, where as learning is an individuals method of safe guarding. Itself.  

More on this later.