Computation and Human Experience (RRE)

Charles Brown CharlesB at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us
Tue Jun 13 08:26:52 PDT 2000



>>> "Dace" <edace at flinthills.com> 06/12/00 11:03PM >>>
The idea of genes as blueprint for the body is now universally dismissed among molecular biologists. I first learned of the growing skepticism back in '88 from my cell biology professor in college. The idea of "genetic program" or "instruction manual" got scrapped as hopelessly untenable. Now it's thought that the plan for the organism somehow emerges in the course of the "conversation" between genes and proteins in the developing embryo. The British geneticist Enrico Coen, who presents the new view in his book, *The Art of Genes*, frankly admits that researchers don't even have a clue as to how the deep interiors of cells give rise to the outward forms of multicellular organisms.

))))))))))))

CB: Are we to understand that researchers don't have a clue how, but just know that the deep interiors of cells do give rise to the outward forms ? Or are they unsure that the deep interiors give rise to the outward forms at all , that genes have no causal role in relation to outward forms of multicellular organisms ?

______

As in the case of vision, there's no particular reason to assume that the going theory will ever provide any kind of real answer.

Ted



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