The Music of Life: Biology beyond genes [Paperback]

Denis Noble describes his short book, "The Music of Life: Biology Beyond Genes", as a polemic. It is, in fact, a clarion call for a rethink to the reductionist dogmas that currently plague--and hinder--so much scientific thinking, particularly in the field of biology and, most especially, genetics. Professor Noble is not, of course, alone in making this call (see, for instance, Stuart Kaufmann's "Reinventing the Sacred" or "Evolution in Four Dimensions" by Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb) but he presents a particularly clear-sighted argument which few others have so far matched. His is a far-reaching and eminently readable disquisition, attacking first the popular metaphor articulated primarily by Richard Dawkins in "The Selfish Gene" (and promulgated endlessly--usually incorrectly--by science popularists ever since) that genes are the engines of evolution and each genome a comprehensive "program of life". Throughout his book, Noble turns that view around with a different and far more accurate metaphor, presenting the genome as a database from which the organism can select in order to call upon an elegant modularity of gene expression in a bewildering display of inventiveness of response to environmental and physiological conditions.

Along the way, the author uses a series of music-related analogies to extend his metaphor and piece together the various fragments of his argument into a coherent look at the biology of the organism as a fully functioning system, operating on and at many levels. He shows that far from the established view where the arrows of explanation all point downwards to the lower, ever more fundamental elements of cellular physiology (ending up ultimately at DNA as the primary explanatory element) there exists in reality a complex system of feedback pathways which enable the organism to act upon its own genetic material, altering the way that each gene is expressed in combination with others as a consequence of their whereabouts within the organism, or the conditions to which the organism may be subjected. Within this systems view of biological functioning, the complex pathways of interaction become the primary explanatory elements, rather than any of the physical components themselves.

This single insight provides several additional mechanisms for the operation of evolution through natural selection over and above the simplistic one of random gene mutation which is held in such high regard by today's neo-Darwinists, and reopens the door to the long-ridiculed notion of so-called Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics. It also calls into question the wisdom of, for instance, neurologists seeking the physical location of "the self" within the prescient organism; within Noble's view of things, such concepts as "the self" cease to have any likelihood of an actual physical presence (as separate, identifiable entities within the organism) but instead become emergent functional properties of a level of operation of the biological system itself.

It should be clear by now that this book presents serious challenges to a great deal of current biological dogma and there will be many readers for whom this book is an eye-opener. It is an easy and entertaining read for anyone with even a smattering of science and regardless of whether or not you finally come to agree with Denis Noble, you can be sure you'll find what he has to say interesting and enlightening.

The Music of Life is a short polemic proclaiming systems biology and the need to move away from dogmatic reductionist thinking. All in all, he does a good job of showing us the flaws in the reductionist approach. He also discusses the role of language and metaphor in science (which is more deeply engrained than I realised), inheritance of acquired characteristics, and the Buddhist take on the 'self'.

He argues strongly against genetic determinism, showing nicely that the genome is not some sort of 'blueprint' or 'book of life'. Part of me thinks this book came out twenty years too late. Any modern biologist would not doubt the importance of viewing life at multiple levels or the importance of epigenetics; and his constant insistence that what he was saying is 'shocking' was just annoying.

Throughout the book, Noble uses the metaphor of music. I thought this was this largely unhelpful and I often found his description of the straight biology easier to follow than the metaphorical description that preceded it!

Nevertheless, this is an important book because the vast majority of molecular biologists are reductionist. This is not just a choice of the way to study things, more it seems engrained in how many scientists think about life. I think most scientists will accept Noble's arguments (there is nothing particularly novel or revolutionary here) but they will still go back to the lab and do reductionist science and think in terms of genes making proteins that perform functions in isolation: all things that Noble has tried to dispel. We do need more systems biologists (physiologists) integrating things at all kinds of different levels. At the moment, they are massively outnumbered by traditional molecular biologists.

As Noble himself describes in his introduction, this book could have been called 'What is Life?' This would have been a more informative title and I think nicely sums up what this book is about. It is a very good description of life as a network of interacting genes/proteins/cells/tissues, with no level being a 'master regulator' of the others or 'determining' the others.

This book should be read by people interested in biology and certainly students of all life sciences. I would like to think it might inspire some physical scientists to entire biology, as they will be needed for systems approaches! I wouldn't recommend it to non-biologists who are looking for an account of evolution or molecular biology though - there are other popular science books that do it better. That's not a failure of this book; it's just not what this one is about.

It has been popular to speak of the genetic program as a causal agent, a blueprint for human development. The theme of this book is to show that there is no such program.
Genetic determination fails to tell the whole story.
"In each gene, the chemicals are arranged in specific ways to facilitate the production of specific proteins." However, exactly how the genes are expressed or how the protein is made varies according the cellular environment, the age of the organ and what type, out of over 200 varieties, of cells in question. Finally, "there is no one-to-one correspondence between genes and biological functions." Noble uses the first few chapters to provide us with an extremely clear picture, in an easy to understandable way, an alternative, a systems biology, explanation of cellular and organ development. Noble asks the following question: How do we use detailed knowledge of the small scale to understand the processes that "govern entire living systems?"

This book takes us on a fascinating journey of exploration seeking answers as to why a century or more of picking apart and documenting the "how does it work" details of the genome has not answered the question above. Who is running the show? For instance, "DNA does nothing outside the context of the cell." All of the over 200 kinds of cells used to make up the various organs of the body contain identical DNA. Therefore, DNA alone cannot determine how the cell will develop functionally.

Of course, when an almost complete understanding of cellular function offers very little help in understanding higher level functions, the road becomes bumpy and vision somewhat blurred. Both scientists and the public demand clear, concise, mathematically perfect answers. Unfortunately, Gaia doesn't work that way. As Noble says: Nature is inherently messy. And yet there is and must be multi-cellular harmony. Our over 200 cell types have had over 2 billion years of experience in cooperative ventures. Our organism may not be perfect, but most of the time it works.

Noble is convinced that a bottom-up, reductionist scientific outlook on biology cannot answer the important questions we need to know about ourselves and how we operate in our environment. The last two chapters were the most interesting to me because they journey into territory that demands a more holistic view, an integrated view of multiple, nested processes. I like the concept of a holarchy where each higher level of function is greater than the sum of its lower operations. This takes us to chapter 9, the penultimate chapter, where we find the question: "So how do biologists and philosophers think we see the world?" This a deeply important question because our actions and reactions are largely, if not completely based on our world view - or the meaning we glean from our environment both far and near. Too often we see and hear what we think is there.

The favoured scientific view of how we see the world is based on a proposition, a physicalist position that our senses turn their inputs into electrical movements that are interpreted by the brain that contains an "I" or self, that creates our world. Noble asks; (1) Where and what is the "I?" (2 Where or what is the map or the translator that gives meaning to the sensory outputs? Recently, several neuroscientists suggest that the brain is the self. The book cites several experiments that do not support this view.
Neuroscientists will never find a physical explanation for how intentional action is performed by the body because this action occurs at a higher level. As I mentioned above, a holarchical concept seems to be necessary. I liked a subheading which reads:
The Self is not a neural object.

At the end of the day, we may come to the conclusion that the self is more like a process than an object. I admire the fact that the author is willing to engage with subjects, since Descartes, considered outside the realms of science. Unless we are destined to morph into robots, we need to be concerned about consciousness and how we can best see ourselves as beings of intention - of purpose not strictly limited to survival. We need to go softly and listen to the orchestra so we can play in tune. Yes, as Noble says, let us listen to the music of life.
Planet as Self: An Earthen Spirituality