Statistics for November:
Spam postings: 24
Postings about moderation: 11
Postings about BTK and/or MCA: 0
In the hope of making December a bit better, can I draw attention to an
editorial by Richard Strohman entitled "The complexity of bioethics" in the
November issue of Nature Biotechnology 19, 1007 (2001). Not for the first
time, he has quite a few interesting things to say, including the following
passage:
"We are then left, once again, with the question: 'In today's biology
dominated by the _ethos_ of mechanism, who will pay for the long-term need
to know?' A researcher interested in questioning the role of wholes over
parts stands a very poor chance of obtaining support for that kind of
question..."
I think he's right -- not only that it's difficult to get support for that
kind of question, but also that that kind of question needs to be asked. It
has to be admitted that concentration on parts has taken us a long way in
biochemistry, but I doubt if it will be sufficient in the future. A remark
of Henrik Kacser's that Douglas Kell has quoted on occasion comes to mind:
"But one thing is certain. If you want to understand the whole you need to
study the whole". (Is that right Douglas? more or less what he said,
anyway).
athel
--
Athel Cornish-Bowden
athel at ibsm.cnrs-mrs.frhttp://bip.cnrs-mrs.fr/bip10/homepage.htm
---
