[HN Gopher] Getting over the code delusion (2010)
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       Getting over the code delusion (2010)
        
       Author : kkoncevicius
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2021-10-26 07:28 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (bwo.life)
 (TXT) w3m dump (bwo.life)
        
       | lmilcin wrote:
       | If you think about it, two completely different programs running
       | on your PC share most of their code. You just have to be willing
       | to recognize that the operating systems, libraries, even CPU
       | microcode and structure are all part of the program.
       | 
       | If you think about the program as totality of everything that
       | makes it work within some closed structure (like PC case) then it
       | is easy to see how most of the basic mechanisms, infrastructure,
       | can be shared and yet the program as a whole can produce
       | completely different results.
        
         | k__ wrote:
         | Yes.
         | 
         | If you look how much of an ape also exist in a human, this
         | shouldn't come as a surprise.
        
         | kuratkull wrote:
         | "share most of your code" is very much false in most cases. you
         | are exaggerating by a huge margin for any serious piece of
         | software
        
           | lmilcin wrote:
           | Am I?
           | 
           | How many serious applications have more code than the
           | operating system, all libraries it uses, all extra tools
           | running there to make it work/usable/maintainable, all CPU
           | design, and so on?
           | 
           | Even if you just look at the Linux kernel there aren't many
           | applications that have more code than it has. If you add all
           | standard library and basic OS and additional tools like SSH
           | and likes that you typically have installed then I am not
           | even sure there exists any single application that would have
           | more code than that.
        
       | TTPrograms wrote:
       | I think the thesis should actually be the opposite. Computer
       | science tells us that determining properties of the result of
       | executing arbitrary code without actually executing it is
       | extremely difficult (e.g. halting problem, static analyses etc.).
       | So there's no reason to think "DNA is code" implies "we can
       | predict phenotype from simple analyses of DNA inferred
       | statistically".
        
       | nanomonkey wrote:
       | Anyone interested in how much more complex evolution is over just
       | genetic material alone, should pick up a copy of the book
       | "Evolution in Four Dimensions"[0]. It goes into how genetic,
       | epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits),
       | behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other
       | forms of symbolic communication) all contribute to a species
       | complexity and ability to evolve.
       | 
       | [0]https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolution-four-dimensions
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-27 23:01 UTC)