The Amazing Power Of Genes

As I read along the book there is one topic that keeps on popping into my head. I guess more than a topic it would be a feeling, a specific reaction to all the information that we get in The Selfish Gene. This feeling is awe. There is no other way to say it, because no other word can capture the glaze I go into when I start thinking about the perfection not the human body. Tiny parts function in ways that are so simple yet come together as the most complex and perfect process known to man. It is impossible to imitate, not only because of the amount of required pieces, or the accuracy of every movement, or the precise timing in which it all happens, but because we have not yet fully understood how everything works. In the Gene Machine, Dawkins describes the brain and its function in the following way: “The main reason why the brains actually contribute to the success of the survival machines is by controlling and coordinating the contractions of muscles. To do this they need cables leading to the muscles…” Clearly, this process is not an easy one, and the creation of a system that coordinated everything so that the body functioned the way it does was a lucky happening of cellular evolution and cooperation. The ability to understand, communicate, and learn was an added bonus, but to us it is probably the most important part of the brain. How is it possible to read this book and study biology and not marvel at the wonders of life? I can never think of anything as perfect as the human body and the way everything inputs into it to form a thinking and healthy human being.

Another topic that was very interesting to me was that the genes are like programmers, and they judge their programs based on the survival of their machines. To me it sounds as if the genes were the scientists and we, the machines, were their guinea pigs. Maybe it is not the process that reminds me of this image, but the wording used in the text: “the genes are like master programmers, and they are programming for their lives. They are judged according to the success of their programs in coping with all the hazards that life throws at their survival machines…” The genes experiment and we show them if what they are doing is a good tactic or a bad one. In reality they never get to know how their experiment turned out, but if it worked the gene will theoretically be passed on and its change will become an active member of the gene pool. All this makes me think, however, that humans are really not that important as individuals. If genes use us as their guinea pigs then we are not vital to the master plan and if we die, “so it goes”* We have developed feeling and attachments to other people, and as these pass away our heart hurts with sorrow. Should it be this way? Were love and friendships concepts that humans were supposed to have, or should the attitude be more of a happiness that a certain non beneficial gene has died? Again, then, the question that hunts humanity comes up: Why are we here and what is life all about?

* A common phrase in the book Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.