4 ms·
At minimum it's true in the same sense that physics is a computable process, though that probably isn't very insightful.
by spacehome 11y ago
At minimum it's true in the same sense that physics is a computable process, though that probably isn't very insightful.
- bawana 11y agobut the amazing coincidence is that DNA strongly resembles a binary code. There are only two kinds of base pairs- AT and CG - In itself this is a striking similarity to the way we use transistors to define a 0 or a 1.The pairwise complementarity serves as an error correcting algorithm. I am rather surprised though that no one has constructed a biological model of the cyclical redundancy check so common in computer hardware. Error correction in DNA is haphazard in the sense that when DNA polymerase detects a mismatch of a base pair, it really doe not 'know' which one to correct. Errors have a 50% chance of being corrected the 'wrong' way. Still that's better than no correction because broken DNA always fails. A CRC check at every 1000 base pairs would virtually eliminate genetic mutation and all the diseases associated with DNA degradation (cancer, aging, etc)
- acjohnson55 11y agoBut that wouldn't necessarily be ideal long term, because there would be near zero adaptability on account of advantageous mutations. Unless the organism could adapt is behavior, it would be really vulnerable to environmental disruption.