Skip to content

The Principle of Biological Relativity... simply states that there is no privileged level of causation in biological systems.

— Denis Noble

Another quote →

Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Denis Noble on the impact of computational biology on evolutionary biology (Nov 9, 2017) voicesfromoxfordUK channel, YouTube.
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by Denis Noble

DNA does nothing outside the context of a cell containing these protein systems, just as a CD can do nothing without a CD reader. So we have the paradox that proteins are required for the machinery to read the code to produce the proteins.

[T]he music of life has no conductor.

All Denis Noble quotes →

More quotes by Denis Noble

The real players in the action of life are the proteins. ...DNA is in comparison rather passive.

The gene-centered view... is a metaphorical polemic: the invention of a colourful metaphor to interpret scientific discovery. It is not a straightforward empirical scientific hypothesis.

Every time a protein is needed, the appropriate chemical 'code' is 'read off' the gene; this gives the pattern of chemical elements that will make that protein what it is. Our genes encode the sequences of 100 000 or so proteins that make up the human body.

[T]here is no privileged level of causation, which is the central statement of the theory of Biological Relativity.

[T]he general principle of relativity informs the whole book.

All Denis Noble quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Denis Noble (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.