Disentangling humans synthesizes life and social sciences, and the humanities, into a philosophical understanding of humans in terms of wellbeing, sociality and ethics.
Drawing from the fields of classical genetics, evolutionary biology and sociopsychology, and infused with references to classic literature and popular art, Dr Apidianakis examines the following questions through the lenses of DNA:
1. Is it more meaningful to predict the disease prospects of each individual or to indiscriminately prevent disease from happening?
2. Are there biological limits in achieving the humanitarian ideal of human equality? That is, are there inerasable inequalities among people?
3. Can we be determined by our genes and environments and still be responsible for our actions?
4. Are we more behaviorally free when following our hearts or when planning for the future?
5. When we punish people, should we be aiming to pacify the victim or rectify the prospective perpetrator?
6. Which should guide our politics and ethics, our ideals or our universal behavioral attributes?
7. What does it mean to be human?
The book is a flow of ten interlinked chapters intended for the scholar, the student, and the layperson alike. It is a source of information and arguments helping to understand the human condition from the perspective of genetics.
[ 1. SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Genetics & Genomics 2. SCIENCE / Life Sciences / Evolution 3. SCIENCE / Essays 4. SCIENCE / History 5. SCIENCE / Study & Teaching ]
Chapter 1 | Why genetics should matter to me: The reading of the Human Book of Genesis is environmentally biased
Chapter 2 | Peoples Prosperity: The Book of Genesis is read by the Environment, but is interpreted based on Environmental History
Chapter 3 | Cancer: Environmental History reads and rewrites our Books of Genesis
Chapter 4 | Human intelligence: Our Books of Genesis are read the most when we have it all; while read the least when our brains have nothing to eat
Chapter 5 | Social human behavior: The Book of Genesis is a must read for shaping human-suited politics and social justice
Chapter 6 | How much of our culture and thinking is written in our Booksof Genesis? Humanities (the human ways), Termitities (the termite ways) and the pyramid of knowledge
Chapter 7 | How different is the Book of Genesis between Humans and other Animals or Computers?
Chapter 8 | What is wrong with our Bookof Genesis and its readership? Reconciling “think for yourself” with “don’t believe what you think”
Chapter 9 | Can we use the Book of Genesis to find happiness? The pursuit of human happiness as the pursuit of human nature
Chapter 10 | The study of our Book of Genesis may fill us with wonder and lessen our sense of pride
Afterword | Our phenotypes deserve many explanations of which we may now only have rudimentary knowledge
Acknowledgements
Addendum 1 | Mendelian traits: The Book of Genesis is read by the Environment, but is interpreted based on clearly discriminatory gene forms
Addendum 2 | Galtonian traits: The Book of Genesis is read by the Environment, but is interpreted based on many and gradually varying gene forms
Notes and further reading