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Richard Lewontin
Richard Lewontin is Alexander Agassiz Research Professor at Harvard University. He is best known among biologists for his role in the development of molecular population genetics. Two 1966 papers that he co-authored with J.L. Hubby on this topic are considered to be classics in the field. His 1972 article on “The Apportionment of Human Diversity,” in which he argues that genetic variation is greater within “races” than between them, is considered a landmark paper in human genetics with major social implications. He writes for a large public on the ways that biology is done and on the place of science in society. Lewontin is well-known for his scathing critiques of the rhetoric used by scientists to gain public support and funding for the Human Genome Project. Additionally, he has been concerned for many years with questions about the genetic and non-genetic variables that influence behavioral traits like intelligence and temperament.
While we cannot dispense with metaphors in science, every one carries implications that are not only misleading for our general understanding, but may actually divert or constrain research to pathways that fail in a critical way to elucidate the phenomena in which we are interested. In current biology there are two such metaphors. One is that of "development" of an organism, which implies unfolding of a form that is immanent from the beginning, like the development of a film. In fact, organisms do not "develop" from a genetic program, but are the consequence of unique interactions between gene and environment and also encounter significant random elements in their formation. The second metaphor is that of "adaptation" in which organisms evolve to fit an environment that is formed independently of them. The truth is that environments are created and changed by the organisms that live in them so that there is a constant coevolution between organisms and their environments.
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