What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
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What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
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Re: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
#2What I find fascinating is the extreme efficiency of what is effectively an electric motor, reaching nearly 100% efficiency. At human scale we struggle with heat dissipation and friction
Re: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
#3at the scale that it operates, the flagella is more a drill than a propeller
there's a good richard feynam video about how things feel when they're that small https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eRCygdW--c
Re: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
#4For some context, a billion years at a 20 minute breeding cycle is 26.3 trillion generations.
Re: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
#5Relevant Smarter Every Day video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPSm9gJkPxU
Re: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
#6What I find fascinating is the extreme efficiency of what is effectively an electric motor, reaching nearly 100% efficiency. At human scale we struggle with heat dissipation and friction
But at the same time the motor is extremely finicky/fragile in the source of energy (negentropy) it will accept, while natural life is extremely hardy and adaptable.
I wonder how much of machine-like "efficiency" is actually "overfitting" at the cost of robustness.
Re: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
#7For some context, a billion years at a 20 minute breeding cycle is 26.3 trillion generations.
> For some context, a billion years at a 20 minute breeding cycle is 26.3 trillion generations.
Which if you want an actual feel for the true scale of things, must be multiplied by (order of magnitude) the number of bacteriums on the planet.
Re: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
#8What I find fascinating is the extreme efficiency of what is effectively an electric motor, reaching nearly 100% efficiency. At human scale we struggle with heat dissipation and friction
But at the same time the motor is extremely finicky/fragile in the source of energy (negentropy) it will accept, while natural life is extremely hardy and adaptable. I wonder how much of machine-like "efficiency" is actually "overfitting" at the cost of robustness.
That is a fair point to be honest! I guess when you a 20min lifetime you can probably compromise on reliability in favour of extra efficiency
Re: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
#9For some context, a billion years at a 20 minute breeding cycle is 26.3 trillion generations.
> For some context, a billion years at a 20 minute breeding cycle is 26.3 trillion generations. Which if you want an actual feel for the true scale of things, must be multiplied by (order of magnitude) the number of bacteriums on the planet.
Good point, forgot about that. Add another 10-20 zeros?
Re: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
But at the same time the motor is extremely finicky/fragile in the source of energy (negentropy) it will accept, while natural life is extremely hardy and adaptable. I wonder how much of machine-like "efficiency" is actually "overfitting" at the cost of robustness.
That is a fair point to be honest! I guess when you a 20min lifetime you can probably compromise on reliability in favour of extra efficiency
Every race, the engine of a top-fuel dragster only completes about 900 revolutions and then has to be rebuilt! https://www.motortrend.com/features/top-fuel-dragsters