Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito

has an almost identical genetic sequence stimulating limbed growth.” I paused. “It indicates that we have a common ancestor.”
    Blip nodded. “I’ve suspected as much.”
    â€œIt’s the same story with eyes. The genetic sequences that produce eyes are all but the same across flies, humans, squid, velvet worms, you name it. In fact, it’s pretty much a given in my field that all life shares a common ancestor.”
    Sophia sighed like a sunset and asked, “So what percentage of our DNA do we share with velvet worms?”
    â€œAgain, I don’t know offhand, and I don’t really know if anyone’s actually sat down to figure that out.”
    â€œJust estimate. Please. I beseech you.”
    I had never been beseeched before, so I obliged her as best I could. “All I can say is that we’re genetically more similar than we are different. We’re made out of the same patterns. That’s what the biotech industry is built upon. You can successfully transfer genes between bacteria and mammals, and the genes remain functional.”
    â€œAll is one,” Blip suggested, an exaggerated mystical resonance coloring his voice.
    â€œAll is driven by genes.”
    â€œBut what exactly are genes?” another guest asked. She was a suburban dropout turned kabbalist theologian. She called herself Rabbi Rainbow. I think Blip and Sophia were trying to set us up, but neither of us took to the other.
    â€œSome say the genetic level is the authentic level of reality, what’s actually occurring, and we’re just half-conscious vehicles for its expression and reproduction. Our life is driven by selfish genes.”
    â€œBut what drives the genes?” Sophia asked, like a child demanding a further why from every explanation.
    â€œNothing.” I shrugged. “They drive themselves. In an infinite amount of time, a molecule with the characteristic to copy itself only had to happen once, and reproduction as a characteristic of matter began, ultimately leading to life as we know it.”
    â€œHooey!” Sophia dismissed my explanation with an ireful scoff. It took me by surprise; up until that point she had been mercilessly chirpy, as prone to irritation as a bird is to singing off-key. “You give yourself too much credit. Just because you can reduce the causal sequence down to the actual material occurrences, it doesn’t necessarily follow that that’s
all
that’s occurring. That’s just how things are manifest in this particular plane of reality. You can trace a person’s depression down to an imbalance of electrochemicals in her brain, but that doesn’t mean you’ve found the cause. That’s only the process. An antidepressant only treats the symptoms of depression. More often than not, people get depressed for reasons larger than the chemicals in their heads. That’s like saying a headache is caused by a constriction of blood vessels in your brain. Headaches are caused by too much work or stress or fatigue or caffeine, not an aspirin deficiency. You’ve only explained the process of life, not the cause.”
    I shrugged again and recited the motto of science. “You have to base knowledge on what you can reliably observe.”
    Sophia shrugged back, smiling. “Maybe you’re not observing the right things.”
    I had no immediate reply, and after a silent pause Blip redirected the discussion. “Tell me more about the similarities of genes.”
    Grateful for his tact, I obliged. “Basically, we know that humans, chickens, fish, all look nearly the same at the embryonic stage of development. insects are like cousins, primates are our siblings. Chimpanzees even have a rudimentary culture. The major difference between humans and apes is the extent of our linguistic capacity.”
    â€œSo what does that make humans to each other?” Either Blip or Sophia asked this; it’s impossible to