genes are well-planned structures

Tags: genes

An example of teleology in popular science writing:

"Indeed, considering on the one hand the remarkable permanence of genes, which carry almost without any deviation the properties of a given species through thousands of generations, and on the other hand the comparatively small number of individual atoms that form one gene [we conclude that each separate gene must be built from about one million atoms], one cannot consider it otherwise than as a well-planned structure in which each atom or atomic group sits in its predetermined place."

George Gamow (1961) One, Two, Three…Infinity. Facts and speculations of science, Revised Edition, Dover Publications, Inc., New York.

Read about teleology in science

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It is difficult to tell form a written text such as this whether the teleology (that genes are structures the have been pre-planned) is intended, or simply meant figuratively.

Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.