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We understand enough physics to model all the possible interactions life might have on this planet. Unless this planet is having a really bad day.
by russdill 11mo ago
We understand enough physics to model all the possible interactions life might have on this planet. Unless this planet is having a really bad day.
- HarHarVeryFunny 11mo agoMaybe better to say "We understand enough physics to model all the possible interactions PHYSICS might have on this planet". There are many levels of abstraction between quantum/particle physics and life, or even just cosmology (things like dark matter, etc), that we really know very little about.
- HarHarVeryFunny 11mo agoAn interesting counterpoint to how little we know, and/or how useless in practical terms our quantum level understanding of physics is, is chemistry. Chemistry is adjacent to physics, at least classical physics and the standard model, so you might think that we should be able to use our knowledge of physics to determine things like atomic bond "angles" and the protein folding problem, yet even this smallish step up in abstraction from physics puts us in a realm where we know very little. DeepMind's AlphaFold, now able to correctly predict 90% of protein folding in agreement with experimental determination, is mostly based on learning from experimental data, as well as evolutionary consideration of proteins that co-evolved, etc. It makes you wonder how useful the reductionist model really is in terms of understanding higher level dynamics. Maybe different levels of abstraction like physics, chemistry, etc, are really a lot more independent than is commonly thought.