Re: Biological Phlogiston

Dear Jerry and All,

There were a couple of aspects in your last posting (sorry for my delay) I
was willing to expand, for they seem quite strategic in our discussions, I
believe.

>If a connetion is to be made between physical particles and living
>behaviors, then we must search for mapping functions which allow us to
>relate the attributes of the various contributors to the game... In a well
>>known case, we can look at the example of three
>degrees of organization - subatomic particles, atoms and molecules. One
>hundred and fifty years ago, we were uncertain about the character of
>each of these degrees of organizations. Today, we assume that quantum
>mechanical rules are adequate for many purposes - including calculating
>the entropy content of good-sized molecules...

Looking at the first paragraph, perhaps it looks rather close to the
grandiose reductionist claims about biology... but taking it in a moderate
way, it can be fine. OK let us go to molecules and discern what are the
fundamental molecular properties that support life--and then the birth of
the strange INFOphlogiston stuff that ignites our endless discussions... In
this regard I would like to hear your biochemical responses to these three
questions which could be related to your tenets:

1- what are the fundamental molecular players of life?

2- are their corresponding functions "picturable" from a quantum point of view?

3- is life strictly related to such molecules--and only to them? Does it
make sense the claim that we may have "Artificial Life" built upon other
(eg, silicon) molecular supports? (or instead of AL, put "artificial
intelligence" or "Infophlogiston" for that matter). In another way, in what
degree do you assume the bio-separability between "matterial support" and
"logical form"?

If you wish, an extra question further ascending in the bio realm could be
the biochemical cellular tools which support the emergence of multicell
organisms...

Of course, not only from the point of view of biochemistry, responses from
any other disciplinary framework would be very welcome.

best greetings

Pedro

-----------------------------------------------------------
Pedro C. Marijuan --FAX 34 976 761 861 --TEL 34 976 761 927
Dto. Ingenieria Electronica y Comunicaciones
CPS, Universidad de Zaragoza
Zaragoza 50015, SPAIN
Received on Tue Mar 10 12:09:04 1998