The Human Genome Project:
A Cosmic Joke that has the Scientists Rolling in the
Aisle
By Bruce H. Lipton,
Ph.D.
There is a "thing" I refer to as Universe Humor, others may refer to it as a Cosmic Joke. There have been times in all of our lives when we thought we knew exactly how some event or incident was going to turn out. We could be so convinced that we "knew" what was going to happen, that we would have bet the family farm and the kitchen sink on the outcome of the event. It is at moments like this, when the Universe surprises us by taking a left turn instead of a right.
While in most cases such a turn of events may evoke anger, disappointment
or disillusion, I usually respond by shaking my head in profound
awe of the perverse nature of Universe Humor. Here I thought I
knew exactly how things would turn out and then find myself surprised,
the wind knocked out of me. In wonder, I must rethink and reconsider
the beliefs I held that led me to my faulty conclusion.
When Universe Humor hits an individual, recognition of their astonishing
lack of awareness may provoke a profound change in their life.
On an individual level, each must reconsider their own beliefs
in order to accommodate the surprising observations.
In contrast, the course of human history is radically altered
when Universe Humor undermines a "core belief" that
is part of the fabric of the entire society. Consider how the
course of human history changed when the belief that the world
was flat was challenged by the circumnavigation of the globe?
In 1893, the chairman of physics at Harvard University warned
students that there was no more need for additional PhD's in
the field of physics. He boasted that science had established
the fact that the universe was a matter machine, comprised of
physical, indivisible atoms that fully obeyed the laws of Newtonian
Mechanics. Since all the descriptive laws of physics were"known,"
the future of physics would be relegated to making finer and finer
measurements.
Two years later, the Newtonian concept of a matter-only universe
was toppled by the discovery of subatomic particles, X-rays and
radioactivity. Within ten years, physicists had to discard their
fundamental belief in a material universe for it was recognized
that the universe was actually made of energy whose mechanics
obeyed the laws of Quantum Physics. That little piece of Universe
Humor profoundly altered the course of civilization, taking us
from steam engines to rocket ships, from telegraphs to computers.
Wellthe cosmic prankster has struck again! As it has done a few
times in the past, this expression of Universe Humor upends a
foundational basic belief held by conventional science. The joke
is embodied in the results of The Human Genome Project. In all
the hoopla over the sequencing of the human genetic code and being
got caught up in the brilliant technological feat, we have not
focused on the actual "meaning" of the results.
One of the most important and fundamental core beliefs in conventional
biology is that the traits and character of organisms are "controlled"
by their genes. This belief is couched in the concept of genetic
determinacy, the conventional dogma provided in virtually every
textbook and biology course. How do genes manage to "control"
life? It is based upon the concept that genes are self-emergent,
meaning that they are able to "turn themselves on and off."
Self-actualizing genes would provide for computer-like programs
that would control organismal structure and function. Additionally,
our belief in genetic determinacy implies that the "complexity"
of an organism would be proportional to the number of genes it
possessed.
Before the Human genome Project was underway, scientists had estimated
that human complexity would necessitate a genome in excess of
100,000 genes. Genes are primarily blueprints encoding the chemical
structure of proteins, the molecular "parts" that comprise
the cell. It was thought that there was one gene to code for each
of the 70,000 to 90,000 proteins that make up our bodies.
In addition to protein-coding genes, the cell contains genes that
determine the character of an organism by "controlling"
the activity of other genes. Genes that "program" the
expression of other genes are called regulatory genes. Regulatory
genes encode information about complex physical patterns that
provide for specific anatomies, which represent the structures
that characterize each cell type (muscle versus bone) or organism
(a chimp from a human). In addition, a subset of regulatory genes
is associated with the "control" of specific behavioral
patterns. Regulatory genes orchestrate the activity of a large
numbers genes whose actions collectively contribute to the expression
of such traits as awareness, emotion, and intelligence. It was
estimated that there were more than 30,000 regulatory genes in
the human genome.
In considering the minimal number of genes needed to make a human:
we would start with a base number of over 70,000 genes, one for
each of the over 70,000 proteins found in a human. Then we include
the minimum number of regulatory genes (30,000) needed to provide
for the complexity of patterns expressed in our anatomy, physiology
and behavior. Lets round-down the number of human genes to a total
of an even 100,000.
Ready for the Cosmic Joke? The results of the Genome project reveal
that there are only about 34,000 genes in the human genome. Two
thirds of the anticipated genes do not exist! How can we account
for the complexity of a genetically-controlled human when there
are not even enough genes to code just for the proteins?
More humiliating to the dogma of our belief in genetic determinacy
is the fact that there is not much difference in the total number
of genes found in humans and those found in primitive organisms
populating the planet. Recently, biologists completed mapping
the genomes of two of the most studied animal models in genetic
research, the fruit fly and a microscopic roundworm (Caenorhabditis
elegans).
The primitive Caenorhabditis worm serves as a perfect model to
study the role of genes in development and behavior. This rapidly
growing and reproducing primitive organism has a precisely patterned
body comprised of exactly 969 cells, a simple brain of about 302
ordered cells, it expresses a unique repertoire of behaviors,
and most importantly, it is amenable to genetic experimentation.
The Caenorhabditis genome is comprised of over 18,000 genes. The
50+ trillion-celled human body has a genome with only 15,000 more
genes than the lowly, spineless, microscopic roundworm.
Obviously, the complexity of organisms is not reflected in the
complexity of its genes. For example the fruit fly genome was
recently defined to consist of 13,000 genes. The eye of the fruit
fly is comprised of more cells than are found in the entire Caenorhabditis
worm. Profoundly more complex in structure and behavior than the
microscopic roundworm, the fruit fly has 5000 fewer genes!!
The Human Genome Project was a global effort dedicated to deciphering
the human genetic code. It was thought the completed human blueprint
would provide science with all the necessary information to "cure"
all of mankind's ills. It was further assumed that an awareness
of the human genetic code mechanism would enable scientists to
create a Mozart or another Einstein.
The "failure" of the genome results to conform to our
expectations reveals that our expectations of how biology "works"
are clearly based upon incorrect assumptions or information. Our
"belief" in the concept of genetic determinism is fundamentally
flawed! We can not truly attribute the character of our lives
to be the consequence of genetic "programming." The
genome results force us to reconsider the question: "From
whence do we acquire our biological complexity?"
In a commentary on the surprising results of the Human Genome
study, David Baltimore, one of the world's most prominent geneticists
and Nobel prize winner, addressed this issue of complexity:
"But unless the human genome contains a lot of genes that are opaque to our computers, it is clear that we do not gain our undoubted complexity over worms and plants by using more genes. Understanding what does give us our complexity-our enormous behavioral repertoire, ability to produce conscious action, remarkable physical coordination, precisely tuned alterations in response to external variations of the environment, learning, memoryneed I go on?-remains a challenge for the future." (Nature 409:816, 2001)
Scientists have continuously touted that our biological fates are written in our genes. In the face of that belief, the Universe humors us with a cosmic joke: The "control" of life is not in the genes. Of course the most interesting consequence of the project's results is that we must now face that "challenge for the future" Baltimore alluded to. What does "control" our biology, if not the genes?
Over the last number of years, science and the press' emphasis
on the "power" of genes has overshadowed the brilliant
work of many biologists that reveal a radically different understanding
concerning organismal expression. Emerging at the cutting edge
of cell science is the recognition that the environment, and more
specifically, our perception of the environment, directly controls
our behavior and gene activity.
Besides perception controling our behavior and gene activity,
it is also responsible for the rewriting of the genetic code.
Cells "learn" (evolve) by creating new perception proteins
in response to novel environmental experiences. "Learned"
perceptions, especially those derived from indirect experiences
(e.g., parental, peer and academic education), may be based upon
incorrect information or faulty interpretations. Since they may
or may not be "true," perceptions are in reality-beliefs!
Our new scientific knowledge is returning to an ancient awareness
of the power of belief. Beliefs are indeed powerfulwhether they
are true or false. While we have always heard of the "power
of positive thinking," the problem of negative thinking is
just as powerful, though in the "opposite" direction.
Problems encountered in health and in the unfolding of our lives
are generally connected to the "misperceptions" acquired
in our learning experiences. The wonderful part of the story is
that perceptions can be relearned! We can reshape our lives in
retraining our consciousness. This is a reflection of the ageless
wisdom that has been passed down to us and is now being recognized
in cellular biology.
An understanding of the newly described cell-control mechanisms
will cause as profound a shift in biological belief as the quantum
revolution caused in physics. The strength of the emerging new
biological model is that it unifies the basic philosophies of
conventional medicine, complementary medicine and spiritual healing.
Dr. Bruce Lipton will be teaching a workshop on "Biology of Complimentary Medicine" January 26th and 27th. See page 11 for complete description and visit his website at: http://www.brucelipton.com