genes – Harmonia Philosophica

Genes. Not important.

One of the great puzzles of evolutional biology is what induced certain living creatures to abandon solitary existence in favor of living in collaborative societies, as seen in the case of ants and other social, colony-forming insects. A major characteristic of so-called eusocial species is the division of labor between queens that lay eggs and workers that take care of the brood and perform other tasks. But what is it that determines that a queen should lay eggs and that workers shouldn’t reproduce? And how did this distinction come about during the course of evolution? Evolutionary biologists have now found a completely unexpected answer: one single gene called insulin-like peptide 2 (ILP2), which is probably activated by better nutrition, stimulates the ovaries and triggers reproduction. (1)

Inequalities by genes.

The best proof that genes are not the ones defining our life.

We are all brothers.

Especially because we don’t seem to be. [Valia]

Health. Disease. Blurry lines…

Our genome is made up of 20,000 genes, all of which may cause disease. At present, 4,141 genes have been identified as being responsible for genetic abnormalities, leaving around 16,000 genes with unknown implication in disease. Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, — working in collaboration with scientists from Pakistan and the USA — have investigated a recessive genetic disorder that destroys the eyes from developing and results in childhood blindness. After analyzing the genomes of each member of a consanguineous family with affected children, the geneticists pinpointed pathogenic mutations in a new gene, MARK3, as being the cause. They subsequently confirmed their findings — published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics — by modifying the homologous gene in drosophila flies, which resulted in abnormal eye development and blindness. The identification of the MARK3 related disease will help to understand the mechanism of the disease, provide diagnostic services, and initiate efforts for a personalized treatment. (1)

The same genes which are praised for their role in life…

Are responsible for the diseases which destroy it…

Could it be that these genes work the wrong way?

Or that we are seeing the whole picture from a wrong standpoint?

Can what is good be evil at the same time?

Can health entail disease?

Can life entail death?

What an irrational cosmos…

So alive. So sad. So true…

Look at the circle on the sand.

The line is blurry.

Distracted by the wind.

Please don’t touch my circle…

Blood on the sand.

A cry of a bird in the distance.

The deep ocean cries…

The Polar Star stands still.

Divorce. Separation. Matter. Soul.

Children of divorced parents are more likely to get divorced when compared to those who grew up in two-parent families – and genetic factors are the primary explanation, according to a study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.

The study’s findings are notable because they diverge from the predominant narrative in divorce literature, which suggests that the offspring of divorced parents are more likely to get divorced themselves because they see their parents struggling to manage conflict or lacking the necessary commitment, and they grow up to internalize that behavior and replicate it in their own relationships. (1)

We tend to believe matter is to be blamed for everything.

And we are absolutely right.

Yes, it is your genes to blame. But not because they do anything. Not because they affect anything or because they interact with anything. But simply because they exist. Matter is what makes the cosmos be. And the same matter is what keeps things (and people) apart.

It takes a soul to see the unity of all things.

Happy kids. Sad kids.

Look at their eyes.

Only there can you see the cosmos glowing…

Empty. And yet full.

Replication and cell identity. The birth of death.

The set of genes a cell expresses determines if it’s a skin cell, nerve cell or a heart muscle cell, among the 200 or so different cell types found in the human body”. Prior to cell division, chromosomes are seemingly a jumbled mess. During cell division, parent cell chromosomes and their duplicates sort themselves out by condensing, becoming thousands of times more compact than at any other time. Researchers have long assumed that genes become “silent” during cell division, not being transcribed into proteins or regulatory molecules. This has left open the question of how genes get properly re-activated after cell division. Now, researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University Pennsylvania have found that gene expression actually continues during cell replication. Their findings were published in Science. (1)

In the same way humans are trying to solve the problems of discontinuity in life. They wander how and why life is ended by death. They wander how existence is ended by non-existence. They try to figure out how something can be, when it was not there before. They are surprised to find something where they were not supposed to find it.

Because they believe in nothingness.

They believe in zero.

They believe in things not-being

It all started with a kid. Talking about a unicorn, with eyes full of delight. His parents smiled at the boy. And explained to him that unicorns do not exist. And just like that, a being was expelled into the darkness of oblivion. Just like that, death was born…

Mapping the genome. The illusion of “dimensions”…

Cells face a daunting task. They have to neatly pack a several meter-long thread of genetic material into a nucleus that measures only five micrometers across. This origami creates spatial interactions between genes and their switches, which can affect human health and disease. Now, an international team of scientists has devised a powerful new technique that ‘maps’ this three-dimensional geography of the entire genome. Their paper is published in Nature. (1)

We like analyzing things.

So we have “discovered” dimensions.

And the more we analyze, the more dimensions seem to be there.

From the extra dimension of time to the extra dimensions of new physics’ theories to adding dimensions of analysis of human behavior or to adding dimensions in the ways genome is mapped or in the ways it expresses itself, we are all doing the same thing over and over again: Adding complexity to a simple world. We may name it “Discovering complexity” but in reality, all this ‘discovery’ is just in our mind.

Humans were on Earth for millions of years.

The genome was there all the time.

With no maps. No dimensions.

Expressing itself.

Part of a human.

Part of a cosmos.

So in essence, it was never there.

Because there was no human.

There was no self in the first place.

There was no genome.

Just the cosmos.

Expressing itself.

The map is empty.

See?