[ Follow Ups ]
Posted by Ramellini on November 01, 1999 at 04:41:55:
I've already posted this message to contribute
to the debate about the message "The Program God", but it was
included in the archive april-october 1999.
Here, I present it again, to feed discussion.
Traditionally it has been made a distinction between the terms 'creator' and
'demiurge'. The creator
creates something from nothing, while the demiurge arranges, orders, sets in
order something having
preexisting matter, space and ideas available. So that, your hypothesis would
become, I think, that
the genetic program is a demiurge.
Now, let's look at the hypothesis. What sort of demiurge should be the genetic
program? What
should it order?
Firstly, it is called 'program' a system of instructions necessary (but
eventually not sufficient) to
perform an algorhytm. Biologically, the term knows a metaphorical utilization
which is not always
easy to clarify; so, could you give us the meaning you use?
As far as I can see, three main definitions have been proposed for 'program':
- a system of generic information or data
- a system of instructions necessary to synthesize protids
- a system of regulation of the energy flow which crosses a living entity
If we specify that it is a 'genetic program', we restrict the field of data,
instructions, regulation signals
to those related to polynucleotides (DNAs, RNAs or both; this choice should be
declared).
In any case, we can show that the genetic program is not a condition necessary
and sufficient to set in
order a living entity, in the sense of starting its life, through this
experiment. Put in a test-tube a
bacterial growth medium, with all the substances necessary to bacterial life
(or even all the organules
of a bacterial cell), and the energy necessary for the construction of a
bacterial cell, in the form of
potential chemical energy. Then, put in the tube a bacterial chromosome, the
material substrate of the
genetic program. You will realize that nothing happens or, better, no bacterial
life takes place, while
the substances begin to decade towards the termodynamic equilibrium: the
program fails the goal of
ordering the bacterial life.
On the contrary, try this experiment. Put in a test-tube a medium containing an
enucleated human egg
cell. Then inject into it the nucleus of a human sperm cell. Soon you will
watch the beginning of the
embryonal development. What's the difference? The fact is that in this case, in
addition to the genetic
nuclear program, other necessary conditions have been satisfied, for instance
the correct topological
arrangement of the substances and organules.
So that, the genetic program can be seen as a condition necessary, but not
sufficient, to "explain
every (biological) observed structure in a satisfying manner".