Re: Meme-gene coevolution (Was: Static memes question)

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On 23 Jun 2013, at 22:22, David Deutsch <david.deutsch-LR/[email protected]> wrote:

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> On 21 Jun 2013, at 13:46, Tony Balazs <[email protected]> wrote:
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>> On 14 Jun 2013, at 09:00, David Deutsch <david.deutsch-LR/[email protected]> wrote:
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>>> On 13 Jun 2013, at 22:41, hibbsa <hibbsa-/[email protected]> wrote:
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>>>> --- In [email protected], David Deutsch <david.deutsch@...> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Genes and memes do sometimes co-evolve, though.
>>>> 
>>>> Oh say? What sort of scenario are you thinking of?
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>>> One example is that the hardware we use for speaking co-evolved with the evolution of languages.
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>>> An interesting one that was pointed out to me recently was that genes in dogs for following the direction of a human's gaze co-evolved with the human behavior of keeping dogs.
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>>> -- David Deutsch
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>> How can one legitimately speak of "genes in dogs for following the direction of a human's gaze"?  There are only 20,000 genes in the human genome (far fewer than anticipated) and probably a similar number in a dog's.  If there were genes with such narrowly defined functions, there would have to be millions of them.
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> Presumably not all genes have such narrowly defined functions.
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> -- David Deutsch
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Presumably not. But genes don't have functions in that sense. Their functions are to code for peptides.  Probably many peptides, or their products, contribute to dogs' ability to follow a human's gaze, but I doubt that any of them, or any combination, would have only that function. 

Tony
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