James Foster wrote:
>> In article <m0wHUt6-0004OBC at uctmail2.uct.ac.za> ed at MOLBIOL.UCT.AC.ZA ("Ed Rybicki") writes:
>> "Life (anywhere) is the phenomenon associated with th replication of
> self-coding informational systems".
>> This is too imprecise. To which phenomena do you refer? Replication?
> Self-coding? Decoding? Translation? Does your definition make my
> copy program alive? How about my photocopier?
>
Seems pretty precise to me -- Ed's statement implies to me the
phenomen*on*
(singular) which is specifically the existence and function of
`self-coding
informational systems.' Your photocopier is clearly not self-coding,
and
your copy program is not sufficiently self-coding to replicate on its
own
(without more assistance than the `natural phenomena' occurring on your
hard drive - like a computer virus could get by with).
> I remember a philosophy paper in college arguing that thermostats were
> alive: they are self regulating, have internal representations, must
> be in a host, etc.
But they are not self-coding.
>> Personally, I think defining life is a fool's errand. We're not
Or perhaps a hobby for net-nerds like us :-)
> really interested in "what is life". Ed is interested in how viruses
> do what they do. Alife people are interested in algorithms which
> display interesting behaviors. You don't have to define the term to
> justify what you do, or even as a prerequisite to doing it.
I think Ed's interested in the question on a lot of levels, as am I.
Alife
gives me insights into models of protein folding, and I believe a lot of
Alife `experts' would be at least annoyed by your justification of their
field as an opportunity to `display interesting behaviors.' Just as
many AI folk believe they are gaining insight into human intelligence
with their work, defining (and modelling) life helps us understand
what constitutes life, how it works, and what we really mean by the
term.
Not trying to flame, just carrying on an interesting thread and ....
> University of Idaho
^ I (mostly) grew up within 2 miles of your desk !
rob.
--
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Robert T. Miller, Ph.D.
rmiller at sanbi.ac.za
Manager, Durban Satellite, South African National Bioinformatics
Institute
Department of Molecular Virology, University of Natal, Durban, S.
Africa
h: www.sanbi.ac.za p: +27 (0)31 2604580 f: +27 (0)31 3603744 or
2604441
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