 This is not the place to address the quasi-theological view of gene immortality. However, this does point to a fundamental issue about the nature of genes. Even if genes, somehow, were unchanging immortal substances, the genome is nothing of the sort. It is an extremely dynamic entity, constantly changing its properties in generally adaptive response to it environment. Moreover even the constancy of its nucleotide sequence is something maintained only by the continuous application of various editing and repair mechanisms. Indeed, far from being an eternal substance, we suggest it is much better seen as a process, a highly complex set of dynamic activities crucial in maintaining the structural and functional stability not only of the organism but also, through its role in reproduction, of the lineage. Importantly, these relations are bi-directional and, specifically, the organism is also crucial to maintaining the necessary aspects of stability of the  genome.[6]