|
Why isn't all life pond scum? Why are there multimillion-celled,
long-lived monsters like us, built from tens of thousands of cooperating genes?
Mark Ridley presents a new explanation of how complex large life forms like ourselves
came to exist, showing that the answer to the greatest mystery of evolution for
modern science is not the selfish gene; it is the cooperative gene. In
this thought-provoking book, Ridley breaks down how two major biological hurdles
had to be overcome in order to allow living complexity to evolve: the proliferation
of genes and gene-selfishness. Because complex life has more genes than simple
life, the increase in gene numbers poses a particular problem for complex beings.
The more genes, the more chance for copying error; it is far easier to make a
mistake copying the Bible than it is copying an advertising slogan. To add to
the difficulty, Darwin's concept of natural selection encourages genes that look
out for themselves, selfish genes that could easily evolve to sabotage the development
of complex life forms. By retracing the history of life on our planet -- from
the initial wobbly, replicating molecules, through microbes, worms, and flies,
and on to humans -- Ridley reveals how life evolved as a series of steps to manage
error and to coerce genes to cooperate within each body. Like a benign and unseen
hand -- what Ridley calls "Mendel's Demon" -- the combination of these
strategies enacts Austrian monk Gregor Mendel's fundamental laws of inheritance.
This demon offers startling new perspectives on issues from curing AIDS, the origins
of sex and gender, and cloning, to the genetics of angels. Indeed, if we are ever
to understand the biology of other planets, we will need more than Darwin; we
will need to understand how Mendel's Demon made the cooperative gene into the
fundamental element of life. What does the cooperative
gene tell us about our future? With genetic technology burgeoning around the world,
we must ask whether life will evolve to be even more complex than we already are.
Human beings, Ridley concludes, may be near the limit of the possible, at least
for earthly genetic mechanisms. But in the future, new genetic and reproductive
biosystems could allow our descendants to increase their gene numbers and therefore
their complexity. This process, he speculates, could lead to the evolution of
life forms far stranger and more interesting than anything humanly discovered
or imaging so far. Written with uncommon energy, force,
and clarity, The Cooperative Gene is essential reading for anyone wishing
to see behind the headlines of our genetic age. It is an eye-opening invitation
to the biotech adventure humanity has already embarked upon. Mark
Ridley pursues his research in the Department of Zoology at the University of
Oxford. Formerly an assistant professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Ridley
has also served as a research fellow at St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, and
at Linacre, Oriel, and New Colleges in Oxford, all in England. His previous publications
include The Problems of Evolution, Animal Behavior, and the highly
acclaimed student textbook Evolution. Ridley frequently contributes to
The New York Times, The Sunday Times, Nature, New Scientist,
and The Times Literary Supplement. He lives in Oxford, England. |
