Books Quote by Jonah Lehrer
““Science has discovered that, like any work of literature, the human genome is a text in need of commentary, for what Eliot said of poetry is also true of DNA: 'all meanings depend on the key of interpretation.' What makes us human, and what makes each of us his or her own human, is not simply the genes that we have buried into our base pairs, but how our cells, in dialogue with our environment, feed back to our DNA, changing the way we read ourselves. Life is a dialectic.””
About This Quote
Source Book: Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer, 2007
The quote argues that DNA, like literature, requires interpretation and is shaped by cellular and environmental interactions, making identity a dynamic dialogue.
In simple terms: DNA needs interpretation and is shaped by environment.
Key Takeaway
Read yourself as a dialogue between genes and experience.
Themes
identity
interpretation
biology
environment
dialogue
Mood
thoughtful
analytical
inquisitive
Type
philosophical
scientific
inspirational
When to use this quote
- personal development
- medical research
- education
- artistic expression
- psychology
Key Concepts
Epigenetics
dialectic
self-construction
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you interpret your own genetic information?
- In what ways does environment reshape identity?
A Different Perspective
Interpretation can be biased, leading to misreading of genetic data.
![“[Decoding the human genome sequence] is the most significant undertaking that we have mounted so far in an organized way in all of science. I believe that reading our blueprints, cataloguing our own instruction book, will be judged by history as more significant than even splitting the atom or…” quote by Francis Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5c6/francis-collins-5281_atoms_decoding-the-human-genome-sequence-is-th_15604.jpg)
