Paradoxical Life: Meaning, Matter, and the Power of Human Choice

A biochemist at the University of Zurich, Wagner (Robustness and Evolvability in Living Systems) explores the overlap among a wide range of biological phenomenon, including ""the making of an embryo, the attack of a deadly virus, the building of a termite's mound, and human conversation,"" and the paradoxes contained therein. Synthesizing a wide range of knowledge-the nature/nurture debate, Dawkin's ""selfish genes"" theory, etc.-Wagner examines the two-sided struggle between forces like selfishness and altruism, or creation and destruction, to probe the apparent dichotomy between matter and meaning. In Wagner's view, paradoxes (i.e., ""This sentence is false,"" the liar's paradox) are not just flukes of language or sophisticated mind games, but ""built into the foundation of the world and... equally irresolvable in nature where they abound."" For evidence, he mines the ""most profound and magical transformation of matter-the creation of an organism,"" the mechanics of proteins, DNA and RNA, and more. For all his pontificating, however, Wagner's conclusion is still a stretch: ""the benefits of humility and serenity that come with abandoning final truths"" give humans ""enormous power."" The general reader whom Wagner claims to address will likely find the book hard-going, and perhaps not worth the effort.