6 ideas
The book argues that genes are passive templates for making RNA and proteins, and that the organism's physiological networks decide which genes are read, when, and how much. On this view causal control of development and behaviour sits with the organism as a system, not with the DNA sequence.
Biological relativity holds that there is no privileged level of causation in living systems. Causes run upward from molecules to cells and organs and downward from tissues and whole organisms to molecules, so explanations that start only at the gene level leave out real causes.
The book treats random molecular noise as raw material that organisms exploit rather than a nuisance they merely tolerate. Physiological systems can amplify or select among stochastic variations, as in the hypermutation that produces antibody diversity, to generate new functional solutions under challenge.
The authors argue that purposive, goal-directed behaviour is a genuine property of living systems, grounded in physiological self-maintenance and regulation, rather than an illusion or metaphor to be explained away. They present agency as graded and present in many organisms, not exclusive to humans.
Because organisms choose behaviours, niches, and responses to stress, and can reorganise their own genomes, the book argues they help shape the variation and selection pressures they face. Evolution is presented as partly driven by organismal agency rather than solely by random mutation filtered by selection.
The book proposes that agency and choice arise when an organism uses internally generated variability to produce many possible responses and then filters them against its goals and past experience. This offers a naturalistic route to non-predetermined behaviour that does not depend on genetic programs or supernatural explanation.