Joshua Swamidass - Philosophy of Biological Information
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What is information in biology? information is essential for analyzing data and testing hypotheses. But what is information in evolution, population genetics, levels of selection, and molecular genetics? Is computational biology transformational?
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S. Joshua Swamidass is a computational biologist, physician, academic, and author. He is an associate professor of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine, and a Faculty Lead of Translational Bioinformatics in the Institute for Informatics at Washington University in St. Louis.
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Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
Thank you for interviewing Dr. Josh Swamidass. A fascinating guest indeed.
Exceptions matter
And the award for the Most Random table goes to...
When data is manipulated for the benefit of corporations.
You know it. Sad but true.
Great
9:05, 10:44 a simulation will have to first provide results at the molecular and protein complexities before being applied to genetic variations at the cellular level...
Obviously the complete genetic data of even a tiny organism is humongously astronomical. The breakthrough point is when any one of the sequences is assembled in a lab and it begins to wiggle or move in some other way autonomously.
what about the multi-level spatiotemporal regulatory controls in biology?
It would still be one. All is oneness and oneness is all.
Ultimately it is the quality and quantity of available data that can enrich and add value to the end objective of any particular discipline of Medicine or Health or Research using Computational Techniques..
All that biological information, from e.g. my gene sequence, to mention the most obvious, makes perfect sense to the considerably large set of atoms that arguably became involved in forming me, THAT’S what I keep saying, we are trying to translate the mother tongue of atoms (and, therefore, subatomic particles and, therefore, the realms beyond, what we rudimentary consider to be ridiculously small) into a human language. The atoms including particles and information including intelligence seem to be either talking to merely themselves in an utterly complicated circular way, or they might even be talking to us about the way things are. What our humble scientists are trying to accomplish is not less than translating the intricate, and fundamentally alien language of the virtually infinite stream of information from the nature, into a human set of ideas. However, atoms are not so full of themselves without a valid reason: they understand that language naturally. And also have the willingness to obey, and spontaneously form molecules, that spontaneously form biomolecules, that can evolve into cells, that can organise themselves into human brains, amongst other sensory organs making also critical steps towards the final goal of forming conscious beings. I wonder if particles (and beyond), after they finally realised that they, almost unintentionally, form conscious beings time to time, have ever considered to officially confirm that humans have no hidden variables whatsoever, nothing the particles wouldn’t otherwise know about.
does linear genetic structure have any relationship to linear time in quantum mechanics?
what is the role of RNA, DNA and genome in biological brain activity?
Seems like quite a complicated and unintuitive way to do life. Makes on wonder if this is the only way life can be done. What a phenomenal finding it will be if we discover life elsewhere in the universe.
The complexity of my toenails is impressive and difficult to explain. God is mega impressive and even more difficult to explain. I think I need to go to the bathroom now.
You can drink lava, but only once
How did you find out ?
@@sujok-acupuncture9246 I bet my brother 20 bucks. RIP bro 🙏
Can NOT quite believe him because each sentences are wortheless philosophy. Guys shows his abstracts biology It is rubbish philosophy. It means NOT philosophy are rambling proceendings.
Philosophy is about the meaning of words, which is unfortunate for philosophy because everyone knows that every word has a different meaning for every single person on the Earth, living or dead, no matter what language the word is in. There are words I grew up with that no other human being knows outside my hometown of 700 people, in the seventies in rural Ontario, Canada. There are words I memorised reading the dictionary in Philosophy 101, that no human will ever speak again. I know Latin, which no native speaker has spoken for thousands of years! This is not to blow my own horn. It is to stress that language, like time, is a local phenomenon. Language and meaning and the ability to communicate is a localized activity. If I travel to France, they will make fun of my inadequate Quebecois. Thus, since philosophy is directly connected to language, it is only as good as the breadth and depth of a respected Grandpa's mutterings from under his blanket on the Muskoka Chair, alone on the dock at the cottage as he passed away in the sunset with a whisky in his hand, his dog by his side, and his 1938 all-wooden, Chris-craft 100 HP lapping in the chop. So, you are right. Philosophy is meaningless when dealing with large scale cosmology projects, except maybe to boost your vocabulary and your ability to convey your thoughts and describe the physicality of it.
@@Boballoo I wonder if you find my comment philosophically potentially meaningful - here’s a copy for your convenience: All that biological information, from e.g. my gene sequence, to mention the most obvious, makes perfect sense to the considerably large set of atoms that arguably became involved in forming me, THAT’S what I keep saying, we are trying to translate the mother tongue of atoms (and, therefore, subatomic particles and, therefore, the realms beyond, what we rudimentary consider to be ridiculously small) into a human language. The atoms including particles and information including intelligence seem to be either talking to merely themselves in an utterly complicated circular way, or they might even be talking to us about the way things are. What our humble scientists are trying to accomplish is not less than translating the intricate, and fundamentally alien language of the virtually infinite stream of information from the nature, into a human set of ideas. However, atoms are not so full of themselves without a valid reason: they understand that language naturally. And also have the willingness to obey, and spontaneously form molecules, that spontaneously form biomolecules, that can evolve into cells, that can organise themselves into human brains, amongst other sensory organs making also critical steps towards the final goal of forming conscious beings. I wonder if particles (and beyond), after they finally realised that they, almost unintentionally, form conscious beings time to time, have ever considered to officially confirm that humans have no hidden variables whatsoever, nothing the particles wouldn’t otherwise know about.
Philosophy is all about liberation. 'The epistemology of biology.