Re: [OT maundering] was Re: HTML5



In article <slrnha8cg5.36r.spamspam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Ben C <spamspam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 2009-09-05, dorayme <doraymeRidThis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[...]
Quantum physics is one of the most successful theories (and predicting
machine) ever built by man and no one the least understands it on the
level of imaginative grasp! I have heard recently an interesting
argument that biology needs to go down the path of theory that is not
easy to understand in terms of imagination (my paraphrase, of course).
The idea is that we need to jump a level or two away from the
mechanical pictures we have of biological processes to *really
understand* them so we better get a handle on continuing problems of
how biological systems are so sustaining and self organised...

It's no coincidence either that microbiology works on just about the
scale where quantum effects are just starting to become significant.
It's been suggested for example that a quantum-mechanical description
might help to explain protein folding. I doubt that life-forms are
purely classical machines.

Very possibly there is a connection, good point. But that they are not
"classical" machines is a distinct point and it may be that some other
value for x in "x-mechanical description" might arise - leaving any
reductions or synthesis between the biological and the fundamental
physics for an even later period of science.

--
dorayme
.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: topmind: ID is potentially testable
    ... being would agree that if robots are programmed to make other robots, ... machines is pretty silly. ... I am only pointing out that technology and biology have MANY ... The hypoth is NOT based on ALL being shared. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Artificial life likely in 3 to 10 years
    ... Machines can travel faster than any animal - and they use wheels, ... obviously people who have next to zero knowledge of biology. ... power" than bacterial cell (whatever it means in this context ... ... probability the consequences of a single change in a single protein ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: [OT maundering] was Re: HTML5
    ... machine) ever built by man and no one the least understands it on the ... level of imaginative grasp! ... argument that biology needs to go down the path of theory that is not ... scale where quantum effects are just starting to become significant. ...
    (alt.html)
  • Re: sawtooth circuit modeling?
    ... teaching half-of-a-course on systems biology, ... Mathematica. ... the machines don't have a circuit simulator. ...
    (sci.electronics.design)