4 ms·

I’m inclined to ignore such pr fluff until they actually demonstrate a _practical_ result. Eg. cure some form of cancer or some autoimmune disease. All this “pr

by ein0p 2y ago

I’m inclined to ignore such pr fluff until they actually demonstrate a _practical_ result. Eg. cure some form of cancer or some autoimmune disease. All this “prediction of structure” has been in the news for years, and it seems to have resulted in nothing practically usable IRL as far as I can tell. I could be wrong of course, I do not work in this field

dekhn 2y ago
the R&D of all major pharma is currently using AlphaFold predictions when they don't have experimentally determined structures. I cannot share further details but the results suggest that we will see future pharmaceuticals based on AF predictions. The important thing to recognize is that protein structures are primarily hypothesis-generation machines and tools to stimulate ideas, rather that direct targets of computational docking. Currently structures rarely capture the salient details required to identify a molecule that has precisely the biological outcome desired, because the biological outcome is an extremely complex function that incorporates a wide array of other details, such as other proteins, metabolism, and more.
- ein0p 2y ago
  Sure. If/when we see anything practical, that’ll be the right moment to pay attention. This is much like “quantum computing” where everyone who doesn’t know what it is is excited for some reason, and those that do know can’t even articulate any practical applications
  - dekhn 2y ago
    Feynman already articulated the one practical application for quantum computing: using it to simulate complex systems (https://www.optica-opn.org/home/articles/on/volume_11/issue_2/features/quantum_mechanical_computers/ https://www.optica-opn.org/home/articles/on/volume_11/issue_... and https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/1976/ https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/1976/ and https://s2.smu.edu/~mitch/class/5395/papers/feynman-quantum-1981.pdf https://s2.smu.edu/~mitch/class/5395/papers/feynman-quantum-... These approaches are now being explored but I haven't seen any smoking guns showing a QC-based simulation exceeding the accuracy of a classical computer for a reasonable investment. Folks have suggested other areas, such as logistics, where finding small improvements to the best approximations might give a company a small edge, and crypto-breaking, but there has been not that much progress in this area, and the approximate methods have been improving rapidly.
arolihas 2y ago
There are a few AI-designed drugs in various phases of clinical trials, these things take time.

by ein0p 2y ago

dekhn 2y ago

the R&D of all major pharma is currently using AlphaFold predictions when they don't have experimentally determined structures. I cannot share further details but the results suggest that we will see future pharmaceuticals based on AF predictions. The important thing to recognize is that protein structures are primarily hypothesis-generation machines and tools to stimulate ideas, rather that direct targets of computational docking. Currently structures rarely capture the salient details required to identify a molecule that has precisely the biological outcome desired, because the biological outcome is an extremely complex function that incorporates a wide array of other details, such as other proteins, metabolism, and more.

ein0p 2y ago
Sure. If/when we see anything practical, that’ll be the right moment to pay attention. This is much like “quantum computing” where everyone who doesn’t know what it is is excited for some reason, and those that do know can’t even articulate any practical applications
- dekhn 2y ago
  Feynman already articulated the one practical application for quantum computing: using it to simulate complex systems (https://www.optica-opn.org/home/articles/on/volume_11/issue_2/features/quantum_mechanical_computers/ https://www.optica-opn.org/home/articles/on/volume_11/issue_... and https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/1976/ https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/1976/ and https://s2.smu.edu/~mitch/class/5395/papers/feynman-quantum-1981.pdf https://s2.smu.edu/~mitch/class/5395/papers/feynman-quantum-... These approaches are now being explored but I haven't seen any smoking guns showing a QC-based simulation exceeding the accuracy of a classical computer for a reasonable investment. Folks have suggested other areas, such as logistics, where finding small improvements to the best approximations might give a company a small edge, and crypto-breaking, but there has been not that much progress in this area, and the approximate methods have been improving rapidly.

arolihas 2y ago

There are a few AI-designed drugs in various phases of clinical trials, these things take time.