Post APUnDs7mMPAo34lGmu by OnNegation@qoto.org
 (DIR) More posts by OnNegation@qoto.org
 (DIR) Post #APUnDrWCc77EAXBGDY by OnNegation@qoto.org
       2022-11-11T11:11:21Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Watch this video to see how to NOT think about cells. The "cell is a machine" metaphor keeps popping up and it is misleading - the truth is we have barely begun to understand the structures and functions of the proteins in our cells. Those signalling pathway diagrams we memorised during our undergrad days... Well we might need to rethink them! The cell is not a circuit board - a living system is far more complex and beyond our current understanding (not for want of trying of course)#biology #cell #biophysics #biochem https://youtu.be/jPhvic-eqbc
       
 (DIR) Post #APUnDs7mMPAo34lGmu by OnNegation@qoto.org
       2022-11-11T13:24:18Z
       
       0 likes, 4 repeats
       
       This is the paper by Dan Nicholson cited at the end of the video - it's a must read - he explores the history of how molecular biology came to be engrossed with machine analogies for cells. And why this is wrong "The cell is not a machine, but something altogether different—something more interesting yet also more unruly. It is a bounded, self-maintaining, steady-state organization of interconnected and interdependent processes; an integrated, dynamically stable, multi-scale system of conjugated fluxes collectively displaced from thermodynamic equilibrium. Given itsprecarious nature, the cell is constantly having to negotiate a trade-off between structural stability and functional flexibility: too much rigidity compromises physiological adaptability, and too much promiscuity compromises metabolic efficiency. The cell accomplishes this by continuously turning over and reorganizing its constituents into different macromolecular complexes with diverse functional capabilities, which assemble and disassemble in order to meet the everchanging demands of the environment."The image is an engineering-based wring diagram depicting the metabolic pathways included in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database.https://philpapers.org/rec/NICITC#philosophy #philbio #biology #biochemistry #biophysics
       
 (DIR) Post #APUnDsbCb0i1WKWleK by freemo@qoto.org
       2022-11-11T13:38:06Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @OnNegation Me: Its simple, let me just draw you a simple diagram and you will understand it....
       
 (DIR) Post #APV64EehdMtwA1HP1M by gailbear@qoto.org
       2022-11-11T15:09:27Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @OnNegation really sounds like cells are computers... That's an interesting mental model I haven't tried out before.
       
 (DIR) Post #APV64FE9VZG1vxriHA by freemo@qoto.org
       2022-11-11T17:09:18Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @gailbear As a person who focuses on biologically inspired algorithms I can say, without a doubt, cells absolutely are very complex computers, debatable if they are digital or analog, but they are certainly computers.@OnNegation