Genes and donut holes

When studying genes, we must not forget what they really are: embodied experience from the distant past, manifest in the present as physical form.  An axe, as an analogy, is a physical form defined by its history.  Many humans, over thousands of generations, perfected the axe's form.  What we see today is an axe that is well designed to perform a function, stripped of all superflous matter.  What we don't always see is its history or its true purpose.

Genes are like time machines, bringing knowledge from the past into the present.  Like axes, they are elegant works of art.  They are all they need to be, and no more.

Genes are often defined by what can't be seen (think "donut holes").  A gene may be active in very specific situations, sometimes only for a few hours in utero.  Unless you know its complete history (which is impossible), it's difficult to understand its purpose.

Genes can only be affected by the environment only to the degree to which they were designed to be affected by the environment.  The hooks provided by the genes are often quite subtle.  Sometimes you can't see what a gene's purpose really is, unless you already know what to look for, and can devise the conditions for the gene to express itself.