Re: S J Gould on new genome findings

On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Boris Stremlin wrote:

> On Mon, 19 Feb 2001, Richard N Hutchinson wrote:
> 
> > Boris-
> > 
> > Perhaps my message was too condensed.
> > 
> > My point is that if Gould is right, we have nothing to fear from genetic
> > engineering.  Personally, I'm still very worried about what it might lead
> > to -- I'm afraid the reductionist biology agenda might be much more
> > dangerous than simply a bad ideology.
> 
> Not sure how you read that from Gould.  Seems to me he's saying that the
> more reductionist, deterministic and proud our scientific practice and
> worldview get, the more mistakes - pragmatic and moral - we are prone to
> make.  One shouldn't draw an absolute distinction between ideology and
> reality.

I read it from his claim that "we" will not find any clear, simple
correspondence between genes and traits/behaviors.  If so, then genetic
engineering is not going to get very far for a long time.  In that case,
reductionist theory is relatively harmless.  I fear he is wrong, partly
based on what the field has already accomplished.

(If I am still not making myself clear, I won't try again.)

RH