6 ms·
> The program must fit in a genome-sized instruction set of about 1 gigabyte True but this can be a lot larger, maybe even a 1 exabyte instruction size since i
by ppsreejith 2mo ago
> The program must fit in a genome-sized instruction set of about 1 gigabyte
True but this can be a lot larger, maybe even a 1 exabyte instruction size since it depends on he programming language used to express the program. And even accounting for the invariance of runtimes at scale*, the constant factor might be gigantic since we have to build up a lot of cellular machinery first. Reminds me of the Carl Sagan quote: To make a sandwich,you must first construct the universe!
* For example, to translate a program from language A to language B, you can dedicate a constant size to write a language A to B translator. Thus at large program sizes , the kolmogorov complexity (i.e instruction set size) is fairly similar between programs since the size of the program dominates the size of the translator program which is constant. But the constant factor for cellular machinery might be gigantic**
** Or not if we only need a rough simulation
- xandrius 2mo agoIt's "to make an apple pie from scratch". You can make a sandwich with two slices of bread and whatever filling.
- weard_beard 2mo agoBut is a hotdog a sandwich?
- nickff 2mo agoNo, it’s a taco, because the bun is one piece rather than two, as required for a sandwich.
- mhurron 2mo agoNone of these definitions are universally accepted. A taco is a sandwich A hot dog is a sandwich A burger is a sandwich There is such a thing as an open-faced sandwich, which has one slice of bread.
- nickff 2mo agoI agree that none of these is universally accepted, as there are people who disagree right here! Open-face sandwiches often have multiple pieces of bread, go by many names, and are similar to toasts and tostadas, which are neither sandwiches nor tacos.
- stirfish 2mo agoTherefore subs are tacos? Or the two-piece requirement is too strict https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/italian-sub-rolls-recipe https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/italian-sub-rolls-r...
- nickff 2mo agoIf you cut the rest of the way through the bread in a sub, it’s still completely acceptable to serve, but if cut all the way through a hotdog bun, it is regarded as broken or defective.
- goodmythical 2mo agoI'm not sure that holds. If I crumble an assembled taco, I get nachos. If I crumble an assembled hot dog, I do not get nachos. If the two were equivalent, performing the same action on each should produce similar results. I suppose you could say that hot dogs, subs, hoagies, etc are kinds of tacos, but I can't see what element of the taco should give it this priviledge. It would seem, rather, that tacos, hot dogs, and sandwiches are all examples of the ursandwich where some (hot dogs et al) are members of the triwich family (being surrounded on three sides or containing a single continous substrate on three sides) and that some (burgers et al) are members of the duwich family. This allows us insight into the great pizza debate. To the uninitiated, the thin crust and deep dish appear similar. We can see, however, that they are merely related cousins on seperate sides of the urwich family. One is a rare example of the unwich having bread on one side, while the other is a duwich. This easily explains the preferential division in humans. Some see no familial distinction while others care deeply as to which derivation of the urwich they are eating. edit: on an entirely unrelated note, I will die on the 'cereal and oatmeal are soups' hill
- nickff 2mo agoNachos are not crumbled tacos for four reasons: - nachos use (deep) fried tortillas, tacos do not (though some are pan-fried after ingredients are added) - nachos require cheese, which few tacos have - nachos are baked, tacos are not - tacos use wheat or corn tortillas, but nachos always use corn
- Ginger-Pickles 2mo agoA wish sandwich is a type of sandwich where you do indeed have two slices of bread, but you sincerely wish you had some meat.