The Human Genome Project published the first draft of the complete human genome in Nature magazine on February 15, 2001. 2001! That is fifteen years ago. I think people, on reflection, would express surprise. Why? Because we have now had the complete genome for fifteen years now and the expected dramatic changes have not happened.
We--the modern Western world--have a subtle prejudice: We believe that facts are part of a whole understanding and that more facts imply more understanding. Facts are not isolated bits, they are clues. Like puzzle pieces, each fact brings us closer to an understanding of the whole. Like a parlor game or a Sherlock Holmes story, each bit of information leads us to the solution of the problems of life.
Except they do not. When Vanna White spins the wheel, the next letter may or may not solve the puzzle but the puzzle itself is quite limited, only one line of a crossword. It may hold the truth of life but so far it has not.
So our culture builds information bits, amassing information, store-housing "knowledge" with the confidence that we will eventually come to some conclusions about life. The computer and entertainment electronics are built to complement this thinking.
Or maybe created it.
We--the modern Western world--have a subtle prejudice: We believe that facts are part of a whole understanding and that more facts imply more understanding. Facts are not isolated bits, they are clues. Like puzzle pieces, each fact brings us closer to an understanding of the whole. Like a parlor game or a Sherlock Holmes story, each bit of information leads us to the solution of the problems of life.
Except they do not. When Vanna White spins the wheel, the next letter may or may not solve the puzzle but the puzzle itself is quite limited, only one line of a crossword. It may hold the truth of life but so far it has not.
So our culture builds information bits, amassing information, store-housing "knowledge" with the confidence that we will eventually come to some conclusions about life. The computer and entertainment electronics are built to complement this thinking.
Or maybe created it.
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