While this analogy is most likely not understood by people who don't understand gene expression, I still like it. I think of genes as the initial configuration

While this analogy is most likely not understood by people who don't understand gene expression, I still like it. I think of genes as the initial configuration in Conway's game of life. Small initial (genetic) variations can cause large differences after some generations. Some don't matter at all and just die out. But no matter what is the end result, it's not a blue print or a description, it just _is_, and the result flows from it using some basic rules.