Adam's Curse: A Future Without Men

Rating:
Summary: Bryan's Curse
Review: Elements of this book are quite interesting but you have to wade through an awful lot of waffle to find them. Bryan Sykes belongs to a growing number of scientists who think that we are as interested in them as we are in their science. Sykes' work in human genetics is truly fascinating but is hidden beneath endless descriptions of his own family tree, the architecture of the buildings he works in, his train rides, his musings as he stares out of his office window, and an inexhaustible number of other tediums that his publisher should have edited out. Had they done this, however, the book would have been a quarter of its present length.

Theoretically, the main subject of the book is the interplay between the DNA that is exclusively owned by men (the Y chromosome) and that which is exclusively owned by women (mitochondria). The subject is not new and is dealt with much more effectively elsewhere (for example, Sex Wars by Michael Majerus or Y: The Decent of Man by Steve Jones). The subtitle of Sykes' book - A future without men - is misleading as the supposed demise of the Y chromosome is only referred to at the end of the book. It is typical of the media friendly sound bites that Sykes litters his book with.

Male homosexuality is another case in point. The subject has become very popular amongst scientists in recent years and some excellent work has been published (Roughgarden, Muscarella, Kirkpatrick). This has only been achieved as (most) scientists have learnt from past mistakes and treated the subject with awareness and sensitivity. Sykes bludgeons in on the act like a bull in a china shop. Male homosexuals are to be explained, Sykes declares, by a mother's failed attempt to destroy male foetuses in utero. This "poisoned kiss" happens as a result of a genetic battle between the Y chromosome and mitochondria. A mother, according to Sykes, performs this 'semi-abortion' to provide additional child-rearing helpers (just as "sterile workers in the hive were doing for their queen bee").

New sound bite; old (and disproved) idea. Homosexuals are not sterile and worker bees are not homosexual. There is not a shred of evidence to support the idea that women are attempting to abort foetuses that eventually become homosexual men. Moreover, there is very little zoological or anthropological evidence to suggest that homosexual offspring act as 'helpers' to their mothers any more than heterosexual offspring do (zoologist Bruce Bagemihl laid that one to rest in his excellent 1999 book Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity). These are all tired old chestnuts from last century (not, as Sykes would have us believe, his "own rapidly forming theory"). Both author and publisher should know better.

Big ego, little science - this I can just about stand because it is inconsequential. The consistent references to various diseases in Sykes' 'gay genes' chapter, I cannot. Achondroplasia, sickle cell anaemia, coronary heart disease, diabetes, schizophrenia, manic depression, bipolar disorder, haemophilia, colour-blindness, cystic fibrosis, haemochromatosis and Black Death (BLACK DEATH!) are all used to varying degrees to postulate on how gay genes might benefit heterosexuals and therefore get passed through the generations. Homosexuality is guilty by association in the first page of this chapter - "I have worked on inherited diseases for a good part of my scientific career and there is no denying that homosexuality has some of the genetic characteristics that you might find in a serious inherited disease." The disclaimer that follows is pretentious and insulting.

It was precisely this kind of unsupported association between disease and homosexuality (frequently made by blinkered scientists) that political and religious fundamentalists leapt on in defence of their extreme homophobia when AIDS broke out in the 1980s ("When it comes to preventing AIDS, don't medicine and morality teach the same lessons?" Ronald Reagan, 2 April 1987). Western governments absorbed these ideas and we now live with the devastating consequences of their muted response to the AIDS epidemic. The catastrophic and continued association between sexuality and disease is chartered in a brilliant book called The Wages of Sin: Sex and Disease, Past and Present by Peter Lewis Allen. Sykes obviously hasn't read it but he should before passing further judgment, albeit obliquely, on a section of society that he clearly knows little about.

Rating:
Summary: Blinded by Politics
Review: For all Syke's research ability his political bent blinds him to wisdom.

What Sykes hypes as a "war between the chromosomes" could just as easily be seen as a "co-evolving of the chromosomes". In another view the X chromosome, with its low duplication rate (vastly fewer ova produced in a females lifespan relative to sperm in a male), and the manner of ova protection deep within the female body makes the X chromosome much less exposed to selectional forces. This makes the X chromosome the "preservational" half of our nature. Contrast this with the Y chromosome, which is produced in vast numbers to encourage copy "errors" (I prefer "selectional options"), exposed to higher levels of mutagens from the environment, obliged to prove fitness by finding the ova prior to conception, which gives us the "selectional" half of our nature.

The X chromosome "system", being highly resistant to mutagenic forces, could not have survived long enough to evolve, nor will it be able to continue surviving for long, without partnership with a more selection-exposed partner.

Our mitochondria will always have a more selection-exposed partner, it may not be Y-shaped, but it will be there. What Sykes labels as "useless" sections of DNA in the Y chromosome aren't there in response to an existing need, they are there in case a need for them arises, so that selectional forces can operate on them. I would not find it surprising if future scientists find a mechanism whereby highly proven genes in the "selection exposed" Y chromosome become dupicated (and more protected) in the "preservational" X.

I could go into the vast cross-cultural sociological evidence of how the X/Y systems influence the phenotypical gender behavior of entire societies so that females are statistally more and males statistically less risk averse, thus creating another level on which the Y chromosome is more exposed to selectional forces (i.e. REALITY).

Sykes comes off, with all his musings, as the grand epitome of the dominated self-hating male. He is actually a great researcher, but a lackluster sythesizer of what he discovers. His view of the Y chromosome reminds me of leftist politics, with its ideas of creating a risk-free and "level" environment for all, is based, whether it realizes it or not, on fantastic ideas that we do not need to be exposed to reality, only to ourselves.

"Infotainment" is annoying enough, but "infotainment with an agenda" is just plain cloying.

Rating:
Summary: This book sucks
Review: If you casually read the book's jacket you'd probably think this book is about evolutionary biology:
"In Adam's Curse, Brian Sykes - one of the world's foremost geneticits- investigates the possibility of a man-free future..."

Unfortunately its not a book about science at all, although Mr. Sykes would like you to believe that it is for it sure has all the trappings of science, without any of the rigor. Read with a critical eye, the book's jacket tells you exactly what this book is about...one man's (a man who happens to be a scientist) self-hatred about being a man. Here is one (loaded) question the books advertises to answer:
"Are the male trademarks of greed, aggression and promiscuity genentically based?" hmmm...not a loaded question? How about men who are altruistic, caring, and faithful? Simply put this book is crap.

One more critisism: As you read this book, you keep saying to yourself..."get to the point already!" The book has been horribly edited (if there was editing at all!).

Rating:
Summary: Sykes needs to retake Bio 101
Review: Mr. Sykes needs to read a small work known as "The Origin of Species" by a Mr. Charles Robert Darwin. Disregarding the post-publication discoveries of mitochondrial DNA's ability to undergo recombination with the Y chromosome and the fact that Y chromosome is capable of some sophisticated self-repair (unlike other chromosomes). Sykes has sadly, started with some false assumptions and jumps to some poor conclusions.

He says: "Originally the Y-chromosome was a perfectly respectable chromosome [sic] but its fate was sealed when it took on the mantle of creating males. This probably happened in the early ancestors of mammals, perhaps 100m years ago when a mutation on the ancestor of the Y-chromosome suddenly, and quite by chance, enabled it to switch on the embryonic pathway to male development." This is a false assumption, the chromosome didn't become enabled "quite by chance" on a organism/populational scale. This trait was, according to theory, selected for the advantages it conferred on the species. In accordance with this theory, the ticking time-bomb type of number that Sykes gives as 125K years seems whimsical, especially, given the approximate age of homo sapiens of 250K years. First off, I don't beleive for a second that given the rate of information tech and biotech advancement that anyone can make any predictions more than about 100-200 yrs. in advance. Clearly, we males won't all lose function at the same rate and end at the magical 1% fertility at 125K years. Intrinsically, those who are less fertile won't reproduce as prolifically as those who, for any number of reasons (some of which are already being uncovered), maintain functionality.

Interestingly, Sykes cites only one other species who is/has this problem, the vole. This is astonishing for two reasons: 1)Lots of other sexed animals turnover much faster/slower than us reproductively speaking, which would accelerate/decelerate their demise. 2) Lots of other sexed animals developed their sex much earlier/later than us, which would make their extinction much sooner/later than ours. Given the possible spread of species extinction, it's hard to believe that we're the only species with an impending doom in the next 125K years. Additionally, the vole's sex determination is nothing like our own and is arguably not comparable.

Finally, Sykes suggests that a solution to the problem is to do away with men using some form of embryonic fusion for reproduction and he merely passes it off as that simple. Once again, Sykes needs to read up on his most fundamental of genetics. Bacteria permeate virtually every environment on the planet. They reproduce quickly and mutate easily. These two facts allow them to explore lots of adaptations quickly. Without mutation, bacteria (and other non-sentient organisms) couldn't adapt. So, some degree of mutation is required in order to cope with a changing world. Now, if you fuse two eggs, you inherently lose the 'hypermutability' of the y chromosome, thus making the species arguably less adaptable (think of all the times you've heard that women find stronger, more-rugged men more attractive because they seem better able to survive). In addition, you also homogenize the human race. So, much more pressing and as yet uncurable, diseases like cervical/ovarian/breast cancer, TSS, depression, and other women-biased diseases become a species-endangering threat. Not to mention that you're talking about the systematic sterilization/elimination of half the world's current population (statistically speaking, the bigger, and stronger half).

Given the obvious bias Sykes has against males and the huge gaps in his theory (just with Darwin's theory alone). It's hard to believe he either a)doesn't have a financially or politically motivated agenda or b)isn't just a skewed, bombastic eccentric. Either way, his assertions don't pass the muster of theories laid down over one hundred years ago. To hold this work up as great scientific work would be a lark. His theories are bad even for science-fiction. I was going to give Sykes two stars for his engaging writing ability but then I remembered he's the head of human genetics at Oxford, so his writing should be good and being the head he should have a more sound theory. One star.

Rating:
Summary: Genes at War
Review: Sykes has done it again with this follow-up of his "Seven Daughters of Eve." "Adam's Curse" is a terrific survey of the latest findings on human genetics as told through the Y chromosome, inherited exclusively through one's father. There are plenty of new ideas here, coupled with a rather informative short course on the twentieth century's additions to Darwin's theory of evolution.

This is not a dry recitation of the facts, by any means. It contains his personal story of unraveling some of these puzzles himself, told in an a lively and amusing manner, sure to hold the reader's interest. There are history lessons, such as the one about the lamentable foul-ups of the microscopists trying to count the chromosomes. And Sykes tale of observing his own Y chromosome, carrying out the manipulations with his own hands, is described in some detail. There are stories about his coworkers, including the giant William Hamilton, who probably is second only to Darwin in developing the theory of evolution. But mostly it is the story of the application of modern genetics to the varied populations of the world, the story of their migrations and conquests, and the struggle of the Y chromosome to survive.

Sykes' distinct approach is to apply some relatively simple molecular probes to Y chromosomes obtained from many individuals in a variety of populations on a fairly big scale, rather than the other important task, carried on by a myriad of scientists, of trying to understand all the biological minutiae of a single prototypical human.

His finding the Y chromosome inherited today by about 500,000 descendants of the founder of the MacDonald, MacDougalls and the MacAlisters Clans is quite fun to read, and the similar tale of his discovering the Sykes clan reveals something about how curiosity driven science can be so deeply satisfying. The stories of the Vikings, the Polynesians, the Great Khan, and conquest by the Spaniards in South America are all covered here and the new insights revealed by their Y chromosomes gives a tantalizing glimpse of those still to come from other parts of the world. I can't wait.

Probably most unusual for a book of this sort, is that Sykes, a distinguished scientist, lays on some pretty far out, half-baked, probably wrong, but testable ideas about such things as the origin of homosexuality, the war between the sexes from the perspective of the Y and mitochondrial chromosomes, and even the possible future course of the evolution of the Y to its ultimate demise. This is a refreshing contrast to the plodding certainties of the refereed publications of the academics, hedged about with all the required caveats and cautions. In spite of his sometimes over-anthropomorphized chromosomes, this is an entertaining read, rewarding to readers yearning to understand the human beast.

Rating:
Summary: Eve's Revenge
Review: The language of scientific discovery is provocative and entertaining in Bryan Sykes's books. Sykes, the leading geneticist based at Oxford University, traced mitochondrial DNA back to "The Seven Daughters of Eve," the title of his last book, now out in paper with a cute little Venus of Willendorf on the cover. He is also a very skilled storyteller, and the stories he has to tell in Adam's Curse, about the future of our species and the planet, are troubling. And yet, if you are a woman and have harbored a suspicion deep inside that something is not quite right with certain men--outside of not putting the toilet seat down or not picking up their socks--you'll feel vindicated to know there may be payback for these little sins of omission and for what the author calls "the present nightmare of patriarchal dominance, misery, power and destruction." Sykes could have just as easily titled his book "Eve's Revenge." In his concluding chapters, after hundreds of pages of case studies, Sykes presents a stunning vision for the future: "The runaway train of sexual selection is gathering speed and, with the blind Y chromosome in the driving seat, completely unaware of these extreme global dangers, it races out of control. Unless something happens it will leave our beautiful planet not just dying but dead: another lifeless rock spinning around the sun."

But the author claims something is happening to impose limits on the (heretofore) unstoppable sexual selection train. I don't want to give away all the good stuff, but within the book's 305 pages on the Y chromosome women also play a critical role. There are stories within stories in Adam's Curse, and one of the most interesting concerns the war being waged between mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome. They seem locked in a battle to extinction; still, there is compelling evidence that the Y chromosome, that "graveyard of rotting genes... contain[s] the evidence of [its] own demise..."

Adam's Curse is bold, loud science, and Sykes is no wimp when it comes to speculation. His proposal of a gene for male homosexuality and the (mitochondrial) modus operandi behind it are likely to push some major buttons. One of the most poignant passages discusses the changing relations between the sexes and the subjugation of women; archaeological records of bony outgrowths of women's kneecaps testify to lives spent in servitude. He writes skillfully of a dawning realization or a conundrum; but in our millennial age with runaway multinationals, runaway radical fundamentalisms, and clashes of civilizations (even within our own government!), Adam's Curse reads like an act of genetic and civil disobedience. It seems that to be true to ourselves and to Gaia, ultimately some of us must betray our sex chromosomes and exercise a stronger influence through nurture. Otherwise, humanity "marinating in the juices of possession" will peter out in our "ultimate destination." Extinction. The little engine that could, through thousands of years of sexual selection, becomes the runaway train wreck of civilization. A must-read... The Seven Daughters of Eve is equally fascinating. Read it to learn about your mommy.

Rating:
Summary: Adam's Curse
Review: This was an excellent follow-up to "The Seven Daughters of Eve". It provides insight into the origin of human life based on genetic testing and historical events. It is a great balance of scientific data and recorded history, with all the intrigue of a mystery novel. The author maintains his factual focus throughout the book with the exception of Chapter 21, in which he momentarily mutates into a flaming liberal, explaining how "The blind rage of the male..... deliberately enslaved the female". In all other chapters he maintains a scientific focus on "natural selection", concluding with a carefully calculated prediction about the demise of the Y chromosome.