Ralph M Bernstein (ralph at ccit.arizona.edu) wrote:
: clark is certainly correct here. where is this discussion/thread going?
: this has become an exercise in discussing teleology. "the immune system
: evolved to protect",= teleology. and whethre or not it did, it does (and a
: hell of a lot more). the infectious self, vs non self, has been debated for
: years, (see a charles janeway, immunology today for easy review, 2 years
: old). this protection from self and or seeing foreign antigens has also
: been batted around for years, especially in the autoimmunity circles.
Gee, I bet physics was batted around for quite awhile prior to Einstein's
theory of relativity. What if he had used that as an excuse not to think,
discuss, communicate, and teach? I'm sure glad he didn't. I kind of like
the idea that this thread is *going* without *going anywhere*. Here on the
internet, there are no deadlines or general expectations aside from topic
relevance. I find this discussion quite valuable and it's my impression that
the other participants do as well. I have read Charlie Janeway and Bartel and
I find their work impressive. However, in no way does their work serve as
the final word or to close the doors of my attention to the ideas of
Chris Thoburn or Polly Matzinger or anyone else that wishes to contribute
their own original ideas to this discussion, including you.
My question to you is, what are your ideas concerning this topic? What I
mean by your ideas is not what you've read in Janeway's paper, but what
you encountered while running through the park or gazing at the stars or
sitting in a jacuzzi alone. What has your imagination contributed to your
understanding? If you could challenge just one slight angle of Janeway's
ideas, say maybe the microbial dependence upon immunity which does not
encompass viral antigens, what would you choose? As Chris Thoburn stated,
and I paraphrase, no theory is correct 100%. Theory only contribute pieces
of the truth and the more perspectives involved, the more truth takes
presence. Maybe Janeway is 99% truth. I want to know the other 1%. It's these
kind of discussions that will divulge such information.
TKendrick
