---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jonathan Latham <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Feb 6, 2017 at 8:11 AM Subject: Genetics Is Giving Way to a New Science of Life To: [email protected] Dear Friends and Colleagues Published today (Monday Feb 6th 2017) in *Independent Science News:* *Genetics Is Giving Way to a New Science of Life* by Jonathan Latham, PhD https://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/genetics-is-giving-way- to-a-new-science-of-life/ *Synopsis:* "Genes...run everything in our bodies" states the website of the US National Institutes of Health. This view is genetic determinism. It is the idea that DNA is a master molecule that controls living organisms and it has been the conceptual foundation of biology for over 100 years. However, exactly twenty years ago, Prof Richard Strohman, of UC Berkeley, predicted of genetic determinism that "this paradigm has liitle power and must eventually fail". (Nature Biotechnology 15: 194-200, 1997). That day of failure has now arrived. The paradigm of the centrality of DNA is no longer tenable. It is collapsing in the face of numerous lines of evidence. For example, we now know that life preceded the existence of DNA. We also know that some cells and some organisms do not even possess DNA. The emerging alternative is that life is a process that is coordinated and influenced by *all* the molecules in living systems, including by their physical structures and the various emergent properties of these. Life is therefore self-organised. The novelty of this new view is that DNA therefore plays just a modest part in the functioning of life, and even in evolution. The implication is likely to be to release biology from what has become a restrictive and dysfunctional paradigm. Equally, just as the advent of Darwinism created social turmoil, so too might this new view since genetic determinist thought has become deeply entrenched in our social and political structures. For example, it is the deep cause of social injustices such as racism. Please consider sharing this article. Best wishes and thanks Jonathan Jonathan Latham, PhD Executive Director The Bioscience Resource Project Ithaca, NY 14850 USA www.independentsciencenews.org and www.bioscienceresource.org [email protected] Skype: jonathanlatham2 Tel: 1-607-319-0279 “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”—Edward Bernays, Propaganda _______________________________________________ BSR-project-elist1 mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.gn.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/bsr-project- elist1 To unsubscribe, email [email protected] -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/