It really does suck that we're essentially just highly complex spreading mechanisms for this stupid molecule.
Humans are basically puppeted by this piece of shit thing. Your DNA is not you in any way that matters to the human psyche.
Life is a state of low entropy that perpetuates itself through time. DNA is just a part of the overall mechanism.
Think of it like a parts manual in the glove-box of a car. To say the car exists to move the manual from place to place would be an absurd summary of the car. Take the manual out, and throw it into deep space -- it's now meaningless. It only works in the context of an industry that builds cars, of workers who can read and understand the text. You couldn't build a car from just the manual. Similarly, you couldn't recreate a creature from just its DNA. The chromosome is meaningless without the context of the cell.
Think of it like a parts manual in the glove-box of a car. To say the car exists to move the manual from place to place would be an absurd summary of the car.
What do you think a virus is buddy? It’s literally just genetic material propagating itself without the need for a body. Your car analogy doesn't stand. Scientists don’t even consider viruses to be alive in the traditional sense but they still spread regardless. You and I are just a different way to spread that same demonic molecule. You are a flesh puppet for a entity that isn’t even intelligent enough to be considered alive. It goes on “living” but you and I die; the game was rigged from the start.
This isn't a question of semantic language, it's an attempt to overturn the popular idea that "My DNA is myself."
You are not DNA, you are a by-product to ensure the survival and propagation of your DNA. If DNA could spread more efficiently without you, it would do so. The only difference between a virus, essentially just rogue DNA/RNA, and a human being is a question of strategy. You and your DNA are separate entities.
The analogy works fine. A virus cannot propagate in a vacuum, it does need a body. Specifically the body of a compatible cell.
Wait are you trying to suggest that instead of having an idealist quality things have dialectical natures?
Imagine acknowledging that DNA has the same relationship to a human as a virus does to a cell and then thinking that's a good thing.
What does it mean when the body is entirely secondary to the propagation of a molecule? A virus destroys the cell without regard because it's only "goal" is to spread itself regardless of whether or not its beneficial to the cell. The only difference between a virus and your DNA is a question of strategy.
You're still ascribing more importance to DNA than it deserves. The overall system of a living body is what gets propagated, chromosomes are just one part of the mechanism by which that occurs.
You couldn’t build a car from just the manual. Similarly, you couldn’t recreate a creature from just its DNA. The chromosome is meaningless without the context of the cell.
What do you think a virus is buddy? It's literally just genetic material propagating itself without the need for a body. Scientists don't even consider viruses to be alive in the traditional sense but they still spread regardless. You and I are just a different way to spread that same demonic molecule. You are a flesh puppet for a entity that isn't even intelligent enough to be considered alive. It goes on "living" but you and I die; the game was rigged from the start.
Dawkins, if anything, would identify DNA with the body. I'm rejecting that connection entirely.
He came up with the entire model of the gene having "agency". Never mind how epigenetics and proteomics together account for at least a plurality of phenotypic expression.
If we are a spreading mechanism for DNA, we're a really shitty one, considering that every single generation alters a small quantity of it and requires half of it to be jumbled with other DNA from elsewhere.
Moreover, it is increasingly within the purview of science to alter DNA to suit human needs, so even in that tautology the roles should be reversed eventually.
I guess this is the end goal but what are we altering the DNA to do exactly? Increase chances of survival/better quality of life so that DNA itself can propagate further. I'm not saying that DNA literally lords over you and controls your mind. I'm just identifying that we're a complex mechanism to spread that molecule rather than being the molecule itself. If DNA could spread more efficiently by keeping the body in a constant state of unbearable agony, it would eventually evolve to do so. I'm just advocating you break the illusion of "DNA = me".
