Genome complexity: probabilistic (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, May 13, 2017, 09:04 (2533 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Here is an article, very long, on gene networks and the fact that we know very little about how it all results in functions, traits, even free will and consciousness. We do have a few specifics:
https://aeon.co/essays/dna-is-the-ruling-metaphor-of-our-age?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter...

QUOTE: "What role do genes play in non-physical traits such as behavior, or even the ultimate questions of consciousness and free will? Here, the metaphoric replacement of ‘soul’ by ‘gene’ works in a different way. How much of our feelings, thoughts and behavior is actually determined from the moment we are conceived, and could in principle be read like a computer program from our genome?
"The extent to which we have free will is a fundamental aspect of how we view our ‘selves’, and for many religions, relates to whether we can be held responsible for our moral behavior. The scientific view, on the other hand, goes something like this: we live in a totally material world made of matter, energy, and the forces that connect them. Since genes are the fundamental causal elements of life, it would seem inevitable that, if we knew enough, we could predict everything about all of us — our health, our behavior, and our ideas. The alternative would seem to be mysticism — invoking some sort of immaterial something-or-other that we can’t measure but that affects who and what we are."

DAVID’s comment: Very long article worth reading. We know so little. Like quantum theory.

Huge thanks yet again not only for telling us about the article, but also for selecting these quotes. (I’m afraid I don’t have time at the moment to read it all.) The quote above provides a good summary of some of the questions we keep asking, and it doesn’t look as if the author has any answers!