Quotes from book
Genome

Name: Genome
Author: Matt Ridley

Matt Ridley

“Determinism looks backwards to the causes of the present state, not forward to the consequences.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 22 “Free Will” (p. 307)

“The main purpose of most genes in the human genome is regulating the expression of other genes in the genome.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 10 “Stress” (p. 150)

“Nobody doubts that genes can shape anatomy. The idea that they also shape behaviour takes a lot more swallowing.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 7 “Instinct” (p. 91)

“That life is chemistry is true but boring, like saying that football is physics.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 1 “Life” (p. 15)

“Life is a slippery thing to define, but it consists of two very different skills: the ability to replicate, and the ability to create order.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 1 “Life” (p. 12)

“Freedom lies in expressing your own determinism, not somebody else’s. It is not the determinism that makes a difference, but the ownership. If freedom is what we prefer, then it is preferable to be determined by forces that originate in ourselves and not in others.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 22 “Free Will” (p. 313)

“This interaction of genetic and external influences makes my behaviour unpredictable, but not undetermined.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 22 “Free Will” (p. 312)

“Yet the myth persists that genetic determinism is a more implacable kind of fate than social determinism.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 22 “Free Will” (p. 308)

“The fuel on which science runs is ignorance. Science is like a hungry furnace that must be fed logs from the forests of ignorance that surround us. In the process, the clearing we call knowledge expands, but the more it expands, the longer its perimeter and the more ignorance comes into view.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 20 “Politics” (p. 271)

“The politicisation of the issue has had absurd results.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 18 “Cures” (p. 253; referring to genetic engineering)

“Just as we underestimate the degree to which human brains rely upon instincts, so we have generally underestimated the degree to which other animals are capable of learning.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 16 “Memory” (p. 222)

“The subject of learning lies in the provinces of neuroscience and psychology. It is the opposite of instinct. Instinct is generically-determined behaviour; learning is behaviour modified by experience.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 16 “Memory” (p. 220)

“Natural selection has designed all parts of our bodies to last just long enough to see our children into independence, no more.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 14 “Immortality” (p. 202)

“These two processes—linguistic philology and genetic phylogeny—are converging upon a common theme: the history of human migrations.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 13 “Pre-History” (p. 185)

“It underscores yet again the fact that what we call personality is to a considerable degree a question of brain chemistry.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 11 “Personality” (p. 172)

“Judges were never very good at science.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 9 “Disease” (p. 136)

“Genes do indeed behave as if they have selfish goals, not consciously, but retrospectively: genes that behave in this way thrive and genes that don’t don’t.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 8 “Self-Interest” (p. 128)

“If you still thought evolution was about the good of the species, stop thinking so right now.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter X and Y “Conflict” (p. 113)

“In egalitarian societies, genes matter more.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 6 “Intelligence” (p. 86)

“No study of the causes of intelligence has failed to find a substantial heritability.”

Matt Ridley book Genome

Source: Genome (1999), Chapter 6 “Intelligence” (p. 82)

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