Is There a Tension Between Genomic Competencies?

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Solea: Most of my empirical research has been on these examples of genomic conflicts. You have certain gens working for their own transmission, even if that comes at the expense of the individual organism that carries it. And i think these kind of things a mak it may aas make perfect sensefe from agen centgin ieew. I often have to down play the importance of this kind of phenomena too muchr my likings.

One of the brilliant achievements of Darwin’s theory of natural selection was to help explain apparently “purposeful” or “designed” aspects of biology in a purely mechanistic theory of unguided evolution. Features are good if they help organisms survive. But should we put organisms at the center of our attention, or the genetic information that governs those features? Arvid Ågren helps us understand the attraction of the “selfish gene” view of evolution, as well as its shortcomings. This biological excursion has deep connections to philosophical issues of levels and emergence.

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Arvid Ågren received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Toronto. He is currently a Wenner-Gren Fellow at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. Previously he worked at Cornell and Harvard. His recent book is The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution.

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