Text 1231, 85 rader
Skriven 2004-12-29 14:54:00 av Tim Tyler (1:278/230)
Ärende: Re: Exactly what are "rec
=================================


Wirt Atmar <wirtatmar@aol.com> wrote or quoted:

> The fundamental problem is that if the nature of the "gene" is
misrepresented,
> a misrepresentation of the whole of the evolutionary process is unavoidable.
> And such misinterpretations occur even among people who should know better.
> Richard Dawkins wrote the following in his 1976 book, "The Selfish Gene:"
> 
> "Honey bees suffer from an infectious disease called foul brood. This attacks
> the grubs in their cells. Of the domestic breeds used by beekeepers, some are
> more at risk from foul brood than others, and it turns, out the difference
> between strains is, at least in some cases, a behavioural one. There are
> so-called hygenic strains which quickly stamp out epidemics by locating
> infected grubs, pulling them from their cells and throwing them out of the
> hive. The susceptible strains are susceptible because they do not practise
this
> hygenic infanticide... Rothenbuhler surmised that there might be two separate
> genes, one gene for 'uncapping,' and one gene for ''throwing out'... This
story
> illustrates a number of important points... It shows that it can be perfectly
> proper to speak of 'a gene for behaviour so-and-so'" (p. 64-66). 
> 
> Dawkins conclusion clearly misinterprets the nature of gene, after 
> which he goes on to derive a very strange philosophy around this 
> misinterpretation, "selfish genetics." As in all complex machineries, 
> an infinity of failures may bring the machine to a halt. The point 
> failure of any single cog, sprocket, or spring may be sufficient to 
> cause the catastrophic failure of the entire machine. But the inverse 
> is clearly not true. No single sprocket, cog or spring
> can generate complex behaviors as an isolated component. The more proper
> question based on Dawkin's paragraph is: "It's clear that there exists 
> at least one single point failure that kills the hygenic infanticide 
> response in honeybees, but how many different genes, if defective, 
> would do the same thing?" The correct answer is probably hundreds.
> 
> This misrepresentation of genetic cause and effect permeates the 
> professional discussion, so if lay people are confused, we only have 
> ourselves to blame.

My impression from this is that you need to bear in mind the 
section that follows:

``Together with  Professor John Maynard Smith, I recently took 
  part in a public debate with two radical critics of 
  sociobiology, before an audience of students.
  
  At one time in the discussion we were trying to
  establish that to talk of a gene "for X" is to make no
  outlandish claim - even where X is a complex, learned
  behaviour pattern.  Maynard Smith reached for a hypothetical
  example and came up with a 'gene for skill in tying shoelaces'.
  
  Pandemonium broke loose at this rampant genetic determinism!
  The air was thick with the unmistakable sound of worst suspicions
  being gleefully confirmed.  Delightedly sceptical cries drowned
  the quiet and patient explanation of what a /modest/ claim
  is being made whenever one postulates a gene for, say, skill
  in tying shoelaces.  Let me explain the point [...]''

 - Richard Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype, page 22.

Dawkins concludes:

``And to use 'a gene for X' as a convenient way of talking about
  'the genetic basis of X' has been standard practice in population
  genetics for half a century.''

 - Richard Dawkins, The Extended Phenotype, page 29.

Just so.  Nobody ever suggested that "a gene for X" implied "the ONLY
gene influencing X", "the ONLY factor influencing X", or "a gene that
ONLY influences X", or any of the other ridiculous straw men that seem
to keep getting erected in this area.
-- 
__________
 |im |yler  http://timtyler.org/  tim@tt1lock.org  Remove lock to reply.
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