We need new metaphors that put life at the centre of biology | Aeon Essays

Too often, causation in biology, as indeed in the world in general, has been assumed to start “at the bottom” and filter up—so that, for instance, characteristics at the level of an organism’s traits are deemed to be “caused” by genes. As we’ll see, we can gain a better understanding of how life works, and how to intervene in it effectively, when w

nossa capacidade de entender e manipular genomas humanos altera nossa concepção do que significa ser “humano”.

“In the future, attention undoubtedly will be centered on the genome, with greater appreciation of its significance as a highly sensitive organ of the cell that monitors genomic activities and corrects common errors, senses unusual and unexpected events, and responds to them, often by restructuring the genome.”

Arguably it is here that we begin to see how life is not a mechanical process that transmits information and organization steadily and predictably along linear pathways from genes to ever increasing scales. Instead it is a cascade of processes, each with a distinct integrity and autonomy, the logic of which has no parallel outside the living world.