02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Hawking Considers Computer Viruses Life
A living being like you or me usually has two elements: a set of instructions that tell the system how to keep going and how to reproduce itself, and a mechanism to carry out the instructions. In biology, these two parts are called genes and metabolism. But it is worth emphasising that there need be nothing biological about them. For example, a computer virus is a program that will make copies of itself in the memory of a computer, and will transfer itself to other computers. Thus it fits the...Folksonomies: life
Folksonomies: life
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notes12 JAN 2018 by ideonexus
Neurons Use Viruses to Share Information and Learn
When genes are activated, the instructions encoded within their DNA are first transcribed into a related molecule called RNA. Shepherd’s colleague Elissa Pastuzyn showed that the Arc shells can enclose RNA and move it from one neuron to another. And that’s basically what retroviruses do—they use protein shells to protect their own RNA as it moves between cells in a host.
So our neurons use a repurposed viral gene to transmit genetic information between each other in an oddly virus-like... 1 notes
notes22 NOV 2017 by ideonexus
Removing Prepositions in Defining Thought
Having turned my back on propositions, I thought, what am I going to do about this? The area where it really comes up is when you start looking at the contents of consciousness, which is my number one topic. I like to quote Maynard Keynes on this. He was once asked, “Do you think in words or pictures?” to which he responded, “I think in thoughts.” It was a wonderful answer, but also wonderfully uninformative. What the hell’s a thought then? How does it carry information? Is it like ... 1 notes
notes26 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
Flynn-Dickens Model for IQ Gains
Take those born with genes that make them a bit taller and quicker than average. When they start school, they are likely to be a bit better at basketball. The advantage may be modest but then reciprocal causation between the talent advantage and environment kicks in. Because you are better at basketball, you are likely to enjoy it more and play it more than someone who is bit slow or short or overweight. That makes you better still. Your genetic advantage is upgrading your environment, the am...
1 If g-factor is inherited, then how do we explain the Flynn Effect? This model suggests genetic advantages translates into environmental advantage, the environment feeds back to become more challenging.
07 APR 2015 by ideonexus
Resveratrol and SIRT1
For the last decade, the science of aging has increasingly focused on sirtuins, a group of genes that are believed to protect many organisms, including mammals, against diseases of aging. Mounting evidence has demonstrated that resveratrol, a compound found in the skin of grapes as well as in peanuts and berries, increases the activity of a specific sirtuin, SIRT1, that protects the body from diseases by revving up the mitochondria, a kind of cellular battery that slowly runs down as we age. ...Folksonomies: longevity supplements
Folksonomies: longevity supplements
07 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
Radio-Mimetic Chemicals
For mankind as a whole, a possession infinitely more valuable than individual life is our genetic heritage, our link with past and future. Shaped through long aeons of evolution, oru genes not only make us what we are, but hold in their minute beings the future – be it one of promise or threat. Yet generic deterioration through man-made agents is the menace of our time, ‘the last and greatest danger to our civilization.’
Again, the parallel between chemicals and radiation is exact and... 1 notes
notes24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Tyranny of the Gene Tempered by Junk DNA
The analogies between the genetic evolution of biological species and the cultural evolution of human societies have been brilliantly explored by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. The book is mainly concerned with biological evolution; the cultural analogies are only pursued in the last chapter. Dawkins's main theme is the tyranny which the rigid demands of the replication apparatus have imposed upon all biological species throughout evolutionary history. Every species is the pris... 1 notes
notes24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
The Universe Holds the Meaning we Give It
Things happen because the laws of nature say they will—because they are the consequences of the state of the universe and the path of its evolution. Life on Earth doesn’t arise in fulfillment of a grand scheme but as a by-product of the increase of entropy in an environment very far from equilibrium. Our impressive brains don’t develop because life is guided toward greater levels of complexity and intelligence but from the mechanical interactions between genes, organisms, and their surr...Sean Carroll argues that our existence and our intelligence is the product of nature's algorithms. Life holds the meaning we give it.
24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Solving Xenophobia
The in-group-vs.-out-group double standard, which had and has such catastrophic consequences, could in theory be eliminated if everyone alive were considered to be in everyone else’s in-group. This utopian prospect is remote, but an expansion of the conceptual in-group would expand the range of friendly, supportive, and altruistic behavior. This effect may already be in evidence in the increase in charitable activities in support of foreign populations confronted by natural disasters. Donor...
2 Marcel Kinsbourne explains how recognizing all human beings as part of our in-group can promote inter-marriage, which will diversify our genes and improve our overall health and well-being.
29 NOV 2013 by ideonexus
When Memes and Genes Conflict
Memes and genes may often reinforce each other, but they sometimes
come into opposition. For example, the habit of celibacy is presumably
not inherited genetically. A gene for celibacy is doomed to failure in the
gene pool, except under very special circumstances such as we find in
the social insects. But still, a meme for celibacy can be successful in the
meme pool. For example, suppose the success of a meme depends
critically on how much time people spend in actively transmitting it to
othe... 1 notes
notesMemes can override genes, which means a meme like 'celibacy' can prevent the genes from reproducing.
