Peace: A Familiar Model - II

The zygote is much too small to be seen with the naked eye and few of us have the training necessary to be able to distinguish one type of zygote from another. But thanks to some remarkable work done in laboratories we now know that each zygote, regardless of its species, is home to the deoxyribonucleic acid molecule, or DNA, which contains all the instructions for the survival of each organism and its cells. Knowing what type of DNA controls a zygote cell enables us to predict what type of organism it will produce. This works in a negative way because it is easier to predict what the new organism will not look like than what it will look like. For example, I know that the product of a human zygote will not have wings but do not know whether its earlobes will be attached or not.

DNA is both an important and interesting molecule. It is the ultimate mystery of the universe. No one knows where DNA came from. It seems to have been in existence long before any form of life existed; probably before anything existed in the universe.
Living things are made up of cells and each cell contains the DNA molecule which contains all the instructions for the development and maintenance of the cell.

Working on the assumption that DNA predated every living thing, it appears that each species represents a unique copy of this universal DNA molecule, and the unique characteristics of each species is the result of the genes that make up DNA being switched on or off in a variety of ways. Each species is “perfect” because it is an original copy of universal DNA, for lack of a better term.

DNA directs the zygote to begin dividing itself and each new cell that is formed similarly continues dividing until we have a full grown human being. Whereas each species has a unique original copy of the instructions in DNA each time a cell divides the two strands of the DNA molecule are unzipped and through the process of replication each new cell ends up with a new DNA molecule. Errors are few and far between, but they do occur at the rate of about 1 in 1 billion nucleotides per replication.

Most of these errors pose no threat to us but in a few cases these mutations in the genes cause life threatening diseases like the family of auto-immune diseases in which the immune system erroneously views parts of the body as foreign invaders, or cancers in which certain are instructed to keep on dividing beyond the naturally imposed limits. Because the body has no defense against instructions that come from its own blueprint these diseases pose a threat to the entire body.

It is important to note that mutations found in an organism only affect that organism. Neither cancer nor any of the autoimmune diseases threaten the survival of the human race but they threaten the life of the person who is diseased. Because these diseases are not caused by the environment in which the cells are but by the instructions within those cells, the best cure is to change the faulty instructions. This is what gene therapy attempts to do. Other medical interventions are able to avert the threats but they come at a heavy price.

Next time we will take a look at the lessons we can learn from these genetic diseases in our quest to design a future without distrust and standing armies.