Juan Enriquez gives a long historical perspective on human intelligence, reminding us of the fragility of our (and every) historical position. He says that the difference between us and chimps is primarily that we can learn from one another without having to be physically present. We are about to make a leap similar to that occurred with advent of literacy because of our understanding of genetic information. Biological inventions, he says, are now the most numerous type of patents.

His point: If you give up on the pursuit of science and technology, your culture will be eclipsed. E.g., Japan gave up guns because they disrupted the samurai code that unified the island; that worked fine until Perry showed up with three gun ships. (Juan references Giving up the Gun, a wonderful book.)

What bothers me: This orange, he says, is a book about where it’s been for the past billion years. “It’s a diskette.” If you drop it on the soil, it runs a program: “TACCATAGG: Make a root.” Well put. But why is it that, while recognizing the power of the info view of life, I struggle against its implicit reductionism…even though it’s a reductionism of great (and paradoxical?) richness?

Categories: Uncategorized dw