Inside the Human Genome: A Case for Non-Intelligent Design - Hardcover

Avise, John C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195393430 ISBN 13: 9780195393439

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010

Synopsis

Humanity's physical design flaws have long been apparent--we get hemorrhoids and impacted wisdom teeth, for instance--but do the imperfections extend down to the level of our genes? Inside the Human Genome is the first book to examine the philosophical question of why, from the perspectives of biochemistry and molecular genetics, flaws exist in the biological world. Distinguished evolutionary geneticist John Avise offers a panoramic yet penetrating exploration of the many gross deficiencies in human DNA--ranging from mutational defects to built-in design faults--while at the same time offering a comprehensive treatment of recent findings about the human genome. The author shows that the overwhelming scientific evidence for genomic imperfection provides a compelling counterargument to intelligent design. He also develops a case that theologians should welcome rather than disavow these discoveries. The evolutionary sciences can help mainstream religions escape the shackles of Intelligent Design, and thereby return religion to its rightful realm--not as the secular interpreter of the biological minutiae of our physical existence, but rather as a respectable philosophical counselor on grander matters of ultimate concern.

About this title

About the Author

John C. Avise is Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, at the University of California, Irvine, and an elected member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Reviews

A challenger to advocates of intelligent design, Avise is a professor of evolutionary biology who selects the human genome as the field of argument. Presenting himself as understanding where the intelligent-design community is coming from, Avise roots its ideas in a historical context of biology’s pioneers. Most, including Darwin in his youth, detected a divine hand in the living world, so in awe were they of its complex beauty. Agreeing about the complexity, Avise turns things around and wonders why the genome is so “baroque.” The multistep process of DNA replication, the supporting role of mitochondrial DNA, and DNA flaws such as disease-causing genes fall shy of an optimal design; throughout his text, Avise weighs the persuasiveness of evolution against invocation of an intelligent designer as explanations for the less-than-best shape of the genome. Readers who are familiar with the terms of molecular biology and are interested in the holdings or activities of the intelligent-design community are the best audience for Avise’s even-tempered exploration. --Gilbert Taylor

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195393430
• ISBN 13: 9780195393439
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 222