Abstract
Biochemistry and the Sciences of Recognition
Highlights
An account of the slow emergence of scientific insight is not in any straightforward way a reliable reflection of a life course
Like Moliere’s Monsieur Jourdain, who was astonished to realize that he had been speaking prose all his life, I have come to realize that even when my scientific interests turned to very high levels of organization I had been following the rules of biochemistry. These rules are not just those of organic chemistry itself and of that chemistry as it emerged under the constraints of genetics and evolution
The precision is lent by the syntax of organic chemistry, the semantics or significance of biochemical processes is embedded within the astonishingly rich complexity of cells, organs, and organisms interacting across many layers of organization
Summary
Like Moliere’s Monsieur Jourdain, who was astonished to realize that he had been speaking prose all his life, I have come to realize that even when my scientific interests turned to very high levels of organization (organismal, even mental) I had been following the rules of biochemistry These rules are not just those of organic chemistry itself and of that chemistry as it emerged under the constraints of genetics and evolution. The idea that variation is not noise but is rather the substrate for the emergence of biological form and function provides an underlying theme that is central to and defining of what I have called the sciences of recognition These include evolution itself, embryology ( morphogenesis), immunology, and the neurobiology of complex brains. I recount them to point out that scientists can have blind spots and occasionally forget the lesson that one must consider all the levels of organization that emerge from selective events
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