Sequencing of the human genome is said to be complete. Surprisingly, there are only about 30,000 recognizable genes. 30,000 genes cannot generate human complexity. Under the old view of life embodied in what geneticists literally called (admittedly with a sense of whimsy) their "central dogma": DNA makes RNA makes protein — in other words, one direction of causal flow from code to message to assembly of substance, with one item of code (a gene) ultimately making one item of substance (a protein), and the congeries of proteins making a person. Something much more must be present to give sufficient guidance and regulation to the form and function of the human being (or any living creature).
The ontological assumptions of reductionism are: (a) that a system is reducible to its parts; and (b) that all systems are made up of the same basic constituents which are discrete and atomistic; and (c) that all systems have the same basic processes which are mechanical.
The epistemological assumptions of reductionism are: (a) that knowledge of the parts of a system gives knowledge of the whole system; (b) that 'experts' and 'specialists' are the only legitimate knowledge-seekers and knowledge-justifiers of any biological system.
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