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It's not in the other half of the genome. All cells in an organism share the same DNA, but different cells develop in a very differentiated manner depending on
by ntoshev 16y ago
It's not in the other half of the genome. All cells in an organism share the same DNA, but different cells develop in a very differentiated manner depending on the cells around them (e.g. should it be a neuron or a connecting tissue?). The "decompression algorithm" is in the laws of physics, biochemistry, and the way life works in general. Since we don't understand these well enough, we can't make reasonable information-theoretic claims about the "decompressed" genome.
- kragen 16y agoIt all starts from a single zygote. Every material in that zygote is either an essential nutrient, a peptide made according to its DNA (including mitochondrial DNA), or catalyzed from essential nutrients by those peptides. The laws of physics and biochemistry are irrelevant, unless you're claiming that a substantial fraction of the information needed to build intelligence (we're talking tens of megabytes here) is encoded in the laws of physics or in the biochemistry we share with snottites.