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1 - The Gene Delusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2023

Raymond Noble  and
Denis Noble
Raymond Noble
Affiliation:
University College London
Denis Noble
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

The view of living systems as machines is based on the idea of a fixed sequence of cause and effect: from genotype to phenotype, from genes to proteins and to life functions. This idea became the Central Dogma: the genotype maps to the phenotype in a one-way causative fashion, making us prisoners of our genes.

Keywords

purposive behaviourteleologycreative evolutiongene delusionecological intelligencegene-centrismthe central dogmaWeismann barrieragencyliving systemssymbiogenesissymbiosiscommunicationlanguagelearningnaturesocial animalsproblem-solvingartificial intelligenceorganism intelligencefree willtransgenerational inheritance
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Chapter
Information
Understanding Living Systems , pp. 1 - 13
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • The Gene Delusion
  • Raymond Noble, University College London, Denis Noble, University of Oxford
  • Book: Understanding Living Systems
  • Online publication: 22 June 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009277396.003
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  • The Gene Delusion
  • Raymond Noble, University College London, Denis Noble, University of Oxford
  • Book: Understanding Living Systems
  • Online publication: 22 June 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009277396.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Gene Delusion
  • Raymond Noble, University College London, Denis Noble, University of Oxford
  • Book: Understanding Living Systems
  • Online publication: 22 June 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009277396.003
Available formats
×