The biology
Transposons are DNA sequences that copy themselves into new chromosomal locations, found by McClintock in maize and ubiquitous from bacteria to humans. They can be read as parasitic — a burden on replication, able to damage genes — yet the book stresses their value: repeated sequences facilitate chromosome rearrangements and may greatly speed evolution. A deeper question is why such sequences do not come to make up most of a genome; selection against carrying too much unused sequence holds them in check.
A registry that will not sit still
In the reading of this book the genome is a registry of addresses, and the transposon is a coordinate that moves — copying itself to new places in the map. This is the address space in motion: not the fixed lattice of a body plan but a restless part of the registry, edited and reshuffled, held within bounds by the cost of carrying too much. That such mobility can speed evolution is the registry rewriting itself, exploring new arrangements of the coordinate.
Where this departs from current science
| Current science says | The Force of Time says |
|---|---|
| Transposons are selfish/parasitic DNA, tolerated or exploited. | They are mobile coordinates — the address space in motion, reshuffling the registry. |
| Their spread is limited by fitness cost. | The registry is held within bounds by the cost of carrying too much unused coordinate. |
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This paper, and any information drawn from it, may be used freely provided the reference attribution to Stephen Daubney and The Daubney Foundation is recognised.