Life Without Genes

by Adrian Woolfson

Bringing together the latest insights from genetics and cyberculture, this book contends that all life can be conceived of as information. It explores future developments in genetics, both as a consequence of Darwinian natural selection and under the influence of genetic engineering. The ideas are illustrated by writing that draws on a range of surreal examples including hypermarkets containing every toy in the universe, pufferfish that think like flies, Peter Pan-like trips through human genes and creatures that evolve in months and not millennia. It argues that the future will be dominated by biological machines evolved artificially by a process of accelerated evolution which is called "evolution compression".

Genres: Science, Genetics, Nonfiction

420 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 2000

Reviews

[Cheng Jun · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. Interesting tour of some ideas including what are genes, how the first living things could have been developed, how genes regulate morphology.

[Leonardo]

«Todo lo que ha existido, pueda existir o exista alguna vez, en este o en cualquier otro mundo, puede describirse íntegramente mediante una colección completa de hechos relevantes y la serie correspondiente de interconexiones lógicas»."

Uno se siente inmediatamente tentado de agarrarlo por el cuello y decirle: «¿Ah sí?», pero no hay necesidad de ello: su descripción de la cognoscibilidad de lo conocido es mareante, aunque, en última instancia, Woolfson empuña la bandera blanca y acaba diciendo que lo que propone es, de hecho, imposible.

La Revolución de la Riqueza Pág.86

[John Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

bold adventure into the genetic underworld