We are living, Matt Ridley says, through the greatest moment in the history of human understanding. He’s not joking, and he’s not alone in his view.
In the next year, or two or three, we will all be able to read a book revealing more about our origins and evolution, our nature and our behavior than all the efforts of science before this. It will revolutionize medicine, psychology, anthropology and every other human science.
A draft of the human genome is already written in 23 chromosomes – or chapters – in almost every cell of our bodies.
The genome is profoundly book-like, Ridley claims it’s digital information is defined by a code that transliterates a small alphabet of signs into a large lexicon of meanings. And it’s just begging to be read as a 600 million year autobiography of our own species, and a handbook of our talents, diseases, physical dimensions and social roles.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Matt Ridley, author of “Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters.”