Do our cells contain our blueprints?

In the middle of the book Mr. Dawkins started a fascinating discussion by discussing how flocks of starlings seemingly move as one in large flocks. The pictures of these flocks moving is quite stunning in the book and on YouTube.

He discussed how the starlings each individually follow rules that allows the birds to all move as one in the large flocks without hurting each other. He states:

"The key point is that there is no choreographer and no leader. Order, organization, structure - these all emerge as by-products of rules which are obeyed locally and many times over, not globally."

He is making this point to counter those that think that think cells contain genetic instructions. He continues:

"...that is how embryology works. It is done by local rules, at various levels but especially the level of the single cell. No choreographer. No conductor of the orchestra. No central planning. In the field of development, or manufacture, the equivalent of this kind of programming is self-assembly."

Now that is one interesting concept to think about!

*Italics are in the quoted material.