61–70 of 110 posts
I'm left curious as to why our taste receptors are so attuned to sweetness if high sugar foods weren't historically correlated with being high in energy.
What a fabulous analysis! The serendipity is remarkably high! I suppose penicillin might be a good addition to the list of powerful compounds discovered by happenstance? Does this mean that innovation is basically a brute force calculation? Humans simply trying permutations until something hits?
What a fabulous analysis! The serendipity is remarkably high! I suppose penicillin might be a good addition to the list of powerful compounds discovered by happenstance? Does this mean that innovation is basically a brute force calculation? Humans simply trying permutations until something hits?
I mean history suggests that’s the case. Took centuries for Copernicus to exist. AI has been an idea for decades. It wasn’t until transformers in the last few years we had big gains. Google and giant institutions focus on fiat revenue stability over the long term, in line with political ideology. Few big ideas come out of that. I think what Adam Smith is said to have written applies; division of labor taken to the ex…
I recently learned that anesthesia is the same. Not only has no anesthesia ever been developed except through "serendipity." Not only that, but anesthesia that works for humans also effect a wide range of things including plants and bacteria. But why is an active area of research. There are even speculations that there may be quantum effects involved. Biology and chemistry are insanely complex.
> there may be quantum effects involved Quantum Mechanics is why atoms and molecules exist and form bonds. QM is the physics of chemistry. Without QM, chemistry does not happen. The universe would just be a big churning mess of particles and you would never get little lego pieces that snap together according to repeatable rules that, when repeated, form macroscopic substances of innumerable description up to and incl…
Likewise when we say "numerical issues", it's understood that we're talking about situations in which the usual approximation of real numbers by floating point representations breaks down. "Disk corruption" doesn't necessarily mean anything is physically wrong with the disk, only that its contents have become inconsistent with the filesystem abstraction it normally supports, etc.
I recently learned that anesthesia is the same. Not only has no anesthesia ever been developed except through "serendipity." Not only that, but anesthesia that works for humans also effect a wide range of things including plants and bacteria. But why is an active area of research. There are even speculations that there may be quantum effects involved. Biology and chemistry are insanely complex.
> there may be quantum effects involved Quantum Mechanics is why atoms and molecules exist and form bonds. QM is the physics of chemistry. Without QM, chemistry does not happen. The universe would just be a big churning mess of particles and you would never get little lego pieces that snap together according to repeatable rules that, when repeated, form macroscopic substances of innumerable description up to and incl…
To contrast with an example of where quantum mechanics is relevant at the level of biology--this is one I'm familiar with:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantum-fragility-may-he...
Unfortunately I'm not finding anything related to anesthesia except for hand-wavy pieces about "quantum consciousness" (anyone, please do correct me with a link or two if I'm wrong). I blame Sir Roger Penrose, if only because him talking speculatively about it (even in a sophisticated, informed way) seems to give so many others leeway to speak far more casually about the same topic, with far less coherence. This is why we can't have our cake and eat it too I guess
I'm left curious as to why our taste receptors are so attuned to sweetness if high sugar foods weren't historically correlated with being high in energy.
I recently learned that anesthesia is the same. Not only has no anesthesia ever been developed except through "serendipity." Not only that, but anesthesia that works for humans also effect a wide range of things including plants and bacteria. But why is an active area of research. There are even speculations that there may be quantum effects involved. Biology and chemistry are insanely complex.
> there may be quantum effects involved Quantum Mechanics is why atoms and molecules exist and form bonds. QM is the physics of chemistry. Without QM, chemistry does not happen. The universe would just be a big churning mess of particles and you would never get little lego pieces that snap together according to repeatable rules that, when repeated, form macroscopic substances of innumerable description up to and incl…
"Electron spin changes during general anesthesia in Drosophila" https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25114249/
I learned about this from Nick Lane's book "Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> there may be quantum effects involved Quantum Mechanics is why atoms and molecules exist and form bonds. QM is the physics of chemistry. Without QM, chemistry does not happen. The universe would just be a big churning mess of particles and you would never get little lego pieces that snap together according to repeatable rules that, when repeated, form macroscopic substances of innumerable description up to and incl…
(In support of your point about QM:) To contrast with an example of where quantum mechanics is relevant at the level of biology--this is one I'm familiar with: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantum-fragility-may-he... Unfortunately I'm not finding anything related to anesthesia except for hand-wavy pieces about "quantum consciousness" (anyone, please do correct me with a link or two if I'm wrong). I blame Sir R…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
(In support of your point about QM:) To contrast with an example of where quantum mechanics is relevant at the level of biology--this is one I'm familiar with: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantum-fragility-may-he... Unfortunately I'm not finding anything related to anesthesia except for hand-wavy pieces about "quantum consciousness" (anyone, please do correct me with a link or two if I'm wrong). I blame Sir R…
More discussion in "Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology." I can't recommend the book unreservedly, but it's worth checking out reviews.