2 ms·

Seems like fractals are the difference maker here because if you don’t use a fractal you have to program the whole thing whereas if you use fractals (embryology

Seems like fractals are the difference maker here because if you don’t use a fractal you have to program the whole thing whereas if you use fractals (embryology) then your code can be massively recursive. Alternative splicing and epigenetics (holy shit, I can’t believe the iPhone autocorrect doesn’t know the word “epigenetics” in ‘23) also multiply the flexibility of the genome. Also, phosphorylation: proteins are not Boolean switches, they have arbitrary numbers of activation states. Ternary logic is already way more dense than Boolean so when you go even further like into 6-ary, 9-ary logics you’re a lot more free to program stuff. Also the network motifs are a lot simpler than first appear. The metabolic map looks like spaghetti on the wall but each point is composed of reusable blocks like feedforward and feedback etc (see Uri Alon’s book and “Wetware” book and Synthetic Biology: A primer for more detail) I’m biased as a molecular biologist but genetics and systems biology are the most incredible thing. Natural nanotech

MisterTea 3y ago
> Natural nanotech When I was a kid in the 80's there were a number of gross/gore/horror trading cards for kids - Garbage Pail Kids being the prime example. One of the sets I had was set in some far flung future, I can barely remember the series but part of the theme were living, biological machines. The only card I can clearly remember featured a flying prisoner transport where the prisoners were seated in the ships cavernous stomach and "if upset during transport could accidentally digest the prisoners." (Honorable mention to HL2 featuring "synthtech" - the drop ship, strider and gun ships were living biological machines.) This stuck in my head as the idea of designing machines which grow like plants or raised like animals was an incredibly amazing and interesting concept. But as I got older and educated the idea them seemed as far flung as the cards themselves. Though reading you post makes me think, maybe they aren't so far flung after all. Though I still fell that a creature which grows steel or titanium skeletons is still quite firmly in the realm of sci-fi.

MisterTea 3y ago

> Natural nanotech When I was a kid in the 80's there were a number of gross/gore/horror trading cards for kids - Garbage Pail Kids being the prime example. One of the sets I had was set in some far flung future, I can barely remember the series but part of the theme were living, biological machines. The only card I can clearly remember featured a flying prisoner transport where the prisoners were seated in the ships cavernous stomach and "if upset during transport could accidentally digest the prisoners." (Honorable mention to HL2 featuring "synthtech" - the drop ship, strider and gun ships were living biological machines.) This stuck in my head as the idea of designing machines which grow like plants or raised like animals was an incredibly amazing and interesting concept. But as I got older and educated the idea them seemed as far flung as the cards themselves. Though reading you post makes me think, maybe they aren't so far flung after all. Though I still fell that a creature which grows steel or titanium skeletons is still quite firmly in the realm of sci-fi.