4 ms·

Moral of the story, if you notice you have to deal with a multitude of states, get out of that swamp first, get some foundations right and then iterate. Applies

by thih9 2y ago

Moral of the story, if you notice you have to deal with a multitude of states, get out of that swamp first, get some foundations right and then iterate. Applies to both biology and coding.

idiotsecant 2y ago
On the other hand, the human body is super-reliant on very nearly exact temperature regulation. A few degrees can kill us easily. Cold blooded systems are substantially less reliant on pristine conditions.
- thih9 2y ago
  Warm blooded systems though can power high energy activities like maintaining a large brain, which could figure out how to get warm. A few degrees can kill a human only in theory, in practice a human would wear a jacket or seek shade.
  - simmerup 2y ago
    Octopi are cold blooded and smart
    - tim333 2y ago
      But they live in a fairly constant temperature environment compared to a land reptile for example. Update: they do some funky stuff https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230608120915.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230608120915.h...
      - thih9 2y ago
        > The octopuses achieve this by editing their RNA, the messenger molecule between DNA and proteins. Lesson number two: if you cannot avoid dealing with multiple states, consider monkey patching. The result might resemble an eldritch horror, but at least it will work.
        simmerup 2y ago
        No wonder they die so young
  - idiotsecant 2y ago
    A few degrees kills many, many people every year. I didn't say a few environmental degrees, I said a few degrees of regulated temperature. All it takes is a tiny little virus to make your immune system eat itself and kill you with your own heat. That's a very good example of a system that is highly reliant on the right environment to operate properly.
owl57 2y ago
So, expressing your genes at 37°C is a bit like running your code from Docker image?
- danielbln 2y ago
  "Well, it runs on my machine" - some small mammal, ca. 50 million years ago

by thih9 2y ago

Moral of the story, if you notice you have to deal with a multitude of states, get out of that swamp first, get some foundations right and then iterate. Applies to both biology and coding.

idiotsecant 2y ago

On the other hand, the human body is super-reliant on very nearly exact temperature regulation. A few degrees can kill us easily. Cold blooded systems are substantially less reliant on pristine conditions.

thih9 2y ago
Warm blooded systems though can power high energy activities like maintaining a large brain, which could figure out how to get warm. A few degrees can kill a human only in theory, in practice a human would wear a jacket or seek shade.
- simmerup 2y ago
  Octopi are cold blooded and smart
  - tim333 2y ago
    But they live in a fairly constant temperature environment compared to a land reptile for example. Update: they do some funky stuff https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230608120915.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230608120915.h...
    - thih9 2y ago
      > The octopuses achieve this by editing their RNA, the messenger molecule between DNA and proteins. Lesson number two: if you cannot avoid dealing with multiple states, consider monkey patching. The result might resemble an eldritch horror, but at least it will work.
      - simmerup 2y ago
        No wonder they die so young
- idiotsecant 2y ago
  A few degrees kills many, many people every year. I didn't say a few environmental degrees, I said a few degrees of regulated temperature. All it takes is a tiny little virus to make your immune system eat itself and kill you with your own heat. That's a very good example of a system that is highly reliant on the right environment to operate properly.

owl57 2y ago

So, expressing your genes at 37°C is a bit like running your code from Docker image?

danielbln 2y ago
"Well, it runs on my machine" - some small mammal, ca. 50 million years ago