|
This makes clear that the genes execute what genetics dictates the same as they execute what nurture dictates. Thank the "Gene Organizing Device" ("GOD" by the author) that this is not a book on an endless philosophical debate. It is not the same to cook something 10 minutes or half an hour, similarly, it is not the same to expose the brains' neurons to testosterone for a shorter or a longer period of time. You can find an excellent explanation on the "switching" in Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living Cell.
I found this book much better than Ridley's Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters (P.S)., since it explains things more deeply and leaves not so many loose ends. It could also be, that most of the information contained in Genome I had already read somewhere else, whereas the information in this book was virtually new to me, especially regarding the "timimg" and genes as "switches". The author describes that discrimination based on genetical facts is less "unfair" than the one based on environmental determinism, and that this latter can be more scary, like in Huxley's "Brave new world". Better teaching alters IQ measured in kids, but as they grow up, the real (genetic) IQ prevails and early teaching has no greater impact on it (unless the differences are extreme I suppose).
The "timing" is accomplished by the activation of some genes, triggered or stopped by substances like proteins available in the cell. In this book, especially in the chapter about shizophrenia you will find an excellent explanation of the interaction between the environment and the genes in the formation of our personality and traits.This book is full with interesting data, for example the environment plays a higher role in the extremes of IQ, meaning that malnutrition can provoke that IQ is not fully developed, but under more or less "normal" conditions (no severe malnutrition), the individual food selection does not alter the genetic IQ. An imaginary photograph of the 12 men that nurtured the debate between nature and nurture (including Pavlov, Darwin and Galton, Piaget, Freud and others) introduces us to the book and the main positions of these 12 men are explained throughout it.Genes are explained not as a mere ingredient list of life, but as a recipe with timings, this means that genes act in the fourth dimension (time). Most of the time, the genes establish a potential, whereas nurture or the environment enables the final outcome.
One and the same gene can produce totally different actions in different stages of a person's life-cycle, additionally a single gene can occur in different variations; the chosen variation could depend on environmental factors. A longer period of time can result in autism, which could be more or less described as masculine traits driven to the extreme (of course autism can also have other causes). These proteins are produced by other genes in response to the environment.
I also recommend this book for non-evolutionary researchers. If you are looking for a pleasant reading with clear ideas about what is more important between biological and social influences, this is the right book.
coli bacterium does not bother to produce the enzyme which processes lactose. Genes (on the nature side of the equation) enable the acquisition of environmental influences (nurture) and the environmental influences in turn exert their effects by changing the patterns of gene expression. All in all Ridley's book is a light and highly accesible read on an interesting and still controversial topic. He also discusses some of the most interesting findings to emerge from the study of the genome, particularly as these findings pertain to issues of behavioral genetics. Ever since the work of Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod at the Institut Pasteur on the genetic control of enzyme synthesis in E. Nature versus nurture is a long, intense and often highly charged, intellectual debate but Ridley shows it to be a false dichotomy. The historian of science, Frank Sulloway, in his book "Freud, Biologist of the Mind" shows how Freud was far less of a `blank slater' than some might think. The gene was not just a template for the production of proteins - it was also a switch.
Jacob and Monod had shown that in the absence of lactose (a milk sugar) the E. In "The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture" (previously published as "Nature via Nurture") Matt Ridley explores how the modern understanding of the genome recasts the boundaries of the age-old nature versus nurture debate. The writing is accessible to a general audience as it does not delve into the biochemical details of how these genes perform their work but rather discusses the implications of the findings. Ridley also lightens the reading with anecdotal details about some of the scientists involved and the ways in which some of the discoveries were made.As in "The Genome", Ridley appears to stumble a bit when he attempts to discuss the really big philosophical issues like free will. The IF refers to the regulatory portion of the gene and THEN refers to the protein template region.Ridley's book is an interesting historical look at the nature-nurture debate and how either one or the other extreme has waxed and waned in popularity - from Francis Galton and the eugenics movement to the ideological blank slate views of 20th century social scientists to modern developments in evolutionary psychology which attempt to balance the debate and bring it in line with our current knowledge of how genes work.
As the psychologist Gary Marcus has pointed out, genes function like IF-THEN lines of code in a computer program. The extent to which Freud's was a blank slate world is certainly debatable. It is a bit skimpy on the details and it is far from being an exhaustive treatment on the subject but as far as popular science writing is concerned, it is recommended. It is also of some interest that Ridley, like several others, paints Freud as an 'environmentalist'. This is because the gene for that enzyme is effectively turned off by what's called a `repressor protein'. His attempt to explain how genes enable free will is not convincing and the argument that he tries to make does not seem all that clear even to Ridley himself. The two sides are not mutually exclusive.
This includes an overview of the CREB genes which are necessary for the modification of neural circuits in learning and memory, the FOXP2 gene whose mutation in humans has been implicated in the development of language, the role of the BDNF gene in neuroticism and many others. This work showed that the control of gene expression could be tuned by the bacterium's environment. coli bacteria, it has been appropriate to think about genes in terms of 'switches'. However, in the presence of lactose this repressor protein is inactivated and the gene in question begins to churn out the required enzyme.
The book is excellent by the way and should be a must read for anyone interested about this topic. Amazon should have made this change in title clear. I am disapointed that this book was retitled from the original book - Nuture Via Nature. We bought both books only to discover they are the same book.
nuture from the other books if you are interested in understanding how genes effect human relations in societies, and civilizations. Science writer Matt Ridley is a must read for anyone wanting to understand new discoveries about genes, and how they influence us throughout our lives. The older you grow, the less your family background predicts your IQ and the better your genes predict it." or "the shared environment plays only a small and non-significant role in the creation of personality differences in adults."If you are interested in knowing how Ridley can support such statements, and his arguments either way, then this book is for you. This book, however, is of particular interest if you want to understand how genes can effect an individual throughout ones life.For example, the book is dedicated to supporting Ridley's comments like the following: "the influence of genes increases and the influence of shared environment gradually disappears with age. "The Agile Gene" is not as illuminating and captivating as the other Matt Ridley books (his best works are "The Origins of Human Virtue" and "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature"). You'll get a broader and deeper understanding of nature vs.
|
