Abstract
Poised at a critical turning point in the history of genetics, recent work (e.g. in genomics, epigenetics, genomic plasticity) obliges us to critically reexamine many of our most basic concepts. For example, I argue that genomic research supports a radical transformation in our understanding of the genome--a shift from an earlier conception of that entity as an effectively static collection of active genes to that of a dynamic and reactive system dedicated to the context specific regulation of protein-coding sequences.