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Comment by asdfasgasdgasdg | Hacker News Reader

I don't think anyone on HN is going to have more authority to qualify the results than the independent experts quoted in the linked article. Among whom are numbered a Nobel laureate, the president of the group that designs the tests of protein folding systems, and the former CEO of Genentech+current CEO of Calico.

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Art's a smart guy and I have a lot of respect for his biological intuition, but his understanding of computational biology is very limited.

I would imagine that he is not assessing this advancement merely using his own personal expertise, but rather the combined expertise of the resources he represents. CEOs don't just look at problems and potential solutions. They have people who look at those things, and then tell them their opinion. In any case, you've picked a nit with one of the three people quoted. Any objections to the other two?

My main objection to Vivek (the Nobel Prize winner) is the prize in that case should have gone to my advisor, Harry Noller. John Moult... he's a nice guy but I think he's being a bit breathless here.

I see. The co-founder of the organization that tests protein folding is a "nice guy."

CASP is not "the organization that tests protein folding". It's an organization that every two years does a blind prediction and publishes the results (I've competed, some 20 years ago). John's a protein expert, no question about it. I knew him moderately well back in the day because our advisors moved in similar circles.

dekhn, in what way is Art's "understanding of computational biology very limited?"

I'd love to hear more. Specifically, what do you think that computational biology can do that you think Art doesn't understand or credit?

Quite right. And the Nobel laureate in question is a structural biologist--so his expertise is directly relevant.

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