12 Feb 01 
 
Just putting up here for posterity the remark I'm about to make on the soapbox at 
On the Line at WNYC.  
 
Results of the Genome Project 
 
Recently groups working on the Genome Project have announced that humans have 
on the order of 30,000 genes, all but 300 of which have analogues to mouse 
genes.  Though some may find these results anti-climactic, or even infuriating, 
I find my faith renewed in the unending mystery and power of Nature.  Many had 
guessed that we, considered to be so superior to all other species, should have 
at least an order of magnitude more genes than the lowly roundworm; now we find 
ourselves humbled to the genetic size of a mouse. 
 
I think we shall find that the power of our genes will be in their combinations 
(if one counts all possible gene-pair interactions, one finds there are 4.5 
billion).  Just as an infinitely intricate fractal can be generated from a 
couple equations, creatures who have the sophistication to delve into their own 
make-ups find they are woven from but paltry amount of instructions.  Perhaps 
the unexpectedly small number of genes will make it easier to see how they 
interact, or perhaps we will becomed enmeshed in even deeper dilemmas.  How apt 
for Robert Burns to write of us and our near genetic cousins "The 
best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley."