Who Wrote the Book of Life?: A History of the Genetic Code
- ISBN-10
- 0804734178
- ISBN-13
- 9780804734172
- Category
- Science
- Pages
- 441
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2000
- Publisher
- Stanford University Press
- Author
- Lily E. Kay
Description
This is a detailed history of one of the most important and dramatic episodes in modern science, recounted from the novel vantage point of the dawn of the information age and its impact on representations of nature, heredity, and society. Drawing on archives, published sources, and interviews, the author situates work on the genetic code (1953-70) within the history of life science, the rise of communication technosciences (cybernetics, information theory, and computers), the intersection of molecular biology with cryptanalysis and linguistics, and the social history of postwar Europe and the United States. Kay draws out the historical specificity in the process by which the central biological problem of DNA-based protein synthesis came to be metaphorically represented as an information code and a writing technologyand consequently as a book of life. This molecular writing and reading is part of the cultural production of the Nuclear Age, its power amplified by the centuries-old theistic resonance of the book of life metaphor. Yet, as the author points out, these are just metaphors: analogies, not ontologies. Necessary and productive as they have been, they have their epistemological limitations. Deploying analyses of language, cryptology, and information theory, the author persuasively argues that, technically speaking, the genetic code is not a code, DNA is not a language, and the genome is not an information system (objections voiced by experts as early as the 1950s). Thus her historical reconstruction and analyses also serve as a critique of the new genomic biopower. Genomic textuality has become a fact of life, a metaphor literalized, she claims, as human genome projects promise new levels of control over life through the meta-level of information: control of the word (the DNA sequences) and its editing and rewriting. But the author shows how the humbling limits of these scriptural metaphors also pose a challenge to the textual and material mastery of the genomic book of life.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Who Wrote the Book of Life?: A History of the Genetic Code
By Lily E. KayThis is a detailed history of one of the most important and dramatic episodes in modern science, recounted from the novel vantage point of the dawn of the information age and its impact on representations of nature, heredity, and society.
-
Who Wrote the Book of Life?: A History of the Genetic Code
By Lily E. KayThis is a detailed history of one of the most important and dramatic episodes in modern science, recounted from the novel vantage point of the dawn of the information age and its impact on representations of nature, heredity, and society.
-
The Book of Life
By Deborah HarknessWhile Andrew Hubbard was no longer a constant thorn in my side, I was not eager for him to take on the role of the children's spiritual adviser. “If you're sure,” Matthew said. “Will Baldwin be invited?” I knew Matthew had told him ...
-
Revelation
The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions.
-
A Discovery of Witches: A Novel
By Deborah HarknessIn this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library.
-
The Secret of Life: The Little Book That Changed the World
By Dr. Robert S. Love, Dr. Amanda Love, Dr. Shannon MartinThe Secret of Life reveals the lens through which all decisions can be made for the fullest life expression and experience!
-
The Cross and Salvation (Hardcover): The Doctrine of Salvation
By Bruce DemarestIn response, professor and award-winning author Bruce Demarest has made plain God's glorious plan of salvation, his provision for the human dilemma through Christ's work on the cross, and the application of saving grace to unbelievers.
-
An Angel In The Book Of Life Wrote Down Our Baby's Birth Then Whispered As She Closed The Book Too...
By Patricia LarsonThe purpose of this Letters to My Baby is to keep all your various heart feels and thoughts organized in one easy to find spot.
-
Edgar Cayce on the Akashic Records
By Kevin J. TodeschiThis major work is about how each of us is very much in charge of shaping our own destiny. ... [P]rovides examples of how each of us can tap into our own past lives, our present experiences, and our unfolding futures to shape our own ...
-
My Book of Life by Angel
By Martine LeavittWhen sixteen-year-old Angel meets Call at the mall, he buys her meals and says he loves her, and he gives her some candy that makes her feel like she can fly.