Different in degree or kind: An essay captures Adler (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, November 20, 2015, 22:10 (3079 days ago) @ dhw

dhw:In other words, we now have to reconsider the genome as a “read-write” (RW) information storage system highly sensitive to biological inputs.”
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> Footnote 2: "Barbara McClintock most vividly expressed this view in her 1983 Nobel Prize lecture when she described her work analyzing the mutagenic effects of X-rays in maize: “The conclusion seems inescapable that cells are able to sense the presence in their nuclei of ruptured ends of chromosomes and then to activate a mechanism that will bring together and then unite these ends, one with another... The ability of a cell to sense these broken ends, to direct them toward each other, and then to unite them so that the union of the two DNA strands is correctly oriented, is a particularly revealing example of the sensitivity of cells to all that is going on within them... There must be numerous homeostatic adjustments required of cells. The sensing devices and the signals that initiate these adjustments are beyond our presentability to fathom. A goal for the future would be to determine the extent of knowledge the cell has of itself and how it utilizes this knowledge in a “thoughtful” manner when challenged... In the future, attention undoubtedly will be centered on the genome, with greater appreciation of its significance as a highly sensitive organ of the cell that monitors genomic activities and corrects common errors, senses unusual and unexpected events, and responds to them, often by restructuring the genome.”[7]. (My bold)-What you present is all correct. It is the interpretation that is wrong. A computer does read/write automatically. So can the cell and does. This is why the ID folks adopted Shapiro, much to his discomfort.