NAture via Nurture

NAture via Nurture

NATURE VIA NURTURE
The debate of nature vs. nurture has been fought over for centuries, but the new institution of nature via nurture is probably the most practical stance on the issue by far. Ridley's book includes references to some of the most intriguing results from current research in molecular biology. It is invigorating to see that the more we understand the role of genes in our lives and their respective effects, the less they are viewed as the blueprint for an organism. In fact, Ridley provides a different train of thought to explain the relationship among genes, in response to their environments on organisms as a whole: cooking recipe. Ridley explains, “Genes, like recipes, don't do anything at all. Somebody needs to read the recipe, interpret it, have raw materials available, be able to draw on several premade tools to work the raw materials; and, with all of this, the environmental conditions (temperature, air pressure) have to be just right, or the lasagna will be inedible”. As with a final product in a recipe, the process has a distinctive progressive flavor. Meaning, there are several transitional steps in order to make a meal worthy enough to be place on the dinner table. Of course the recipe is vital, but in no right logic is it fair to say, genes are more important than all of the other factors that come into play.
Throughout the course of the book Ridley questions the relation of the chimpanzees to the modern human being. Ridley explains that Scientists have shown these animals share all but a handful of the 30,000 genes that combine to create a human being. So if genetically the chimp has only a 1% difference, then why are the two species so different mentally, physically, and emotionally? Ridley, in response, tackles this question head on several occasions within the exposition. It all comes down to a matter of order. Words, like genes, have all but a few letters, but when mixed and matched             come in an infinite variety of...