Language really is the voice of our genes.

Did we mix or not?

So now we're able to gather data about our genomes, but, as we saw earlier, our genomes aren't dispositive.

The ant's brain, parasitized, to make us behave in certain ways so that our genes would propagate?

The fact we see here is the vehicle for our genes, and therefore we love it.

Well, our genes are not our fate, and if we make these changes they're a predisposition but if we make bigger changes than we might have made otherwise, we can actually change how our genes are expressed.

Maybe the fundamental causes of human social networks are somehow encoded in our genes.

Or you can view it as an evolutionary psychology kind of thing did our genes invent this as a kind of trick to get us to behave in certain ways? The ant's brain, parasitized, to make us behave in certain ways so that our genes would propagate?

In fact the recipe for us, our genes, is exactly that same code and that same way of writing.

One way to change our genes is to make new ones, as Craig Venter has so elegantly shown.

Because what we're trying to measure, the RNA which is the readout from our genes is very labile, and so we have to move very quickly.

But our genetic code still carries a selfish and aggressive instincts that were a survival advantage in the past.

This accounts for why we are often kind to our own flesh and blood those who share our genes.

Language is a parasite that we've adapted to, not something that was there originally for our genes, on this view.

The most important health challenges today are not caused by simple mutations in our genome, but rather result from a complex and dynamic interplay between genetic variation, diet, microbes and parasites and our immune response.

You know the biotech companies are actually going inside us and planting their little flags on our genes.

I'm going to make a bunch of simplifying assumptions because we know that most of these don't hold for most of our genes, but it'll give us a little bit of sense of how to predict what might happen in future generations.

Because when we talk about our genetics and our biology, and modifying and altering and adjusting these things, we're talking about changing ourselves.

Because, for example, the genes don't care whether we're happy, they care that we replicate, that we pass our genes on.

Because what we're trying to measure, the RNA which is the readout from our genes is very labile, and so we have to move very quickly.

And since we have the same parents, it's to be expected that John and I would have similar physical characteristics because the source of our DNA is exactly the same.

Something called the Danish Twin Study established that only about 10 percent of how long the average person lives, within certain biological limits, is dictated by our genes.

Experience shapes us as much as our genes (or innate talents) do, and online experience is cheaper and easier to shape.

Or you can view it as an evolutionary psychology kind of thing did our genes invent this as a kind of trick to get us to behave in certain ways?

The most important health challenges today are not caused by simple mutations in our genome, but rather result from a complex and dynamic interplay between genetic variation, diet, microbes and parasites and our immune response.

So, this work with emotions, which are so fundamental, then got us to thinking about Maybe the fundamental causes of human social networks are somehow encoded in our genes.

There may come a time when we meddle with our genomes in such a way that not being able to run a marathon at age 200 will be considered a profound disability.

Why do we live longer than dogs? The answer must lie in our genes, because genes are ultimately what make us different from other animals.

I don't quite mean that the golden rule itself is written in our genes, but you can go to a hunter gatherer society that has had no exposure to any of the great religious traditions, no exposure to ethical philosophy, and you'll find, if you spend time with these people, that, basically, they believe that one good turn deserves another, and that bad deeds should be punished.