Genes 2 Brains 2 Mind 2 Me

Am really enjoying Antonio Damasio‘s latest book, “Self Comes to Mind” covering underlying brain/body mechanisms of consciousness.  Here’s a quote from Chapter 1 that I thought resonates with this blog:

Placing the construction of conscious minds in the history of biology and culture opens the way to reconciling traditional humanism and modern science, so that when neuroscience explores human experience into the strange worlds of brain physiology and genetics, human dignity is not only retained but reaffirmed.

The main gist of this blog (I hope) is to understand how our genomes may provide each of us with assistance in our inward-looking self-explorations.  Hopefully this inward-looking journey ends not with a list of “risk-for-this”, “risk-for-that” but a greater sense of connection to other human beings, the environment and human evolutionary history.