Getting over the code delusion (2010) | Hacker News Reader

Getting over the code delusion (2010)

bwo.life

20 pointskkoncevicius10 comments

I think the thesis should actually be the opposite. Computer science tells us that determining properties of the result of executing arbitrary code without actually executing it is extremely difficult (e.g. halting problem, static analyses etc.). So there's no reason to think "DNA is code" implies "we can predict phenotype from simple analyses of DNA inferred statistically".

If you think about it, two completely different programs running on your PC share most of their code. You just have to be willing to recognize that the operating systems, libraries, even CPU microcode and structure are all part of the program.

If you think about the program as totality of everything that makes it work within some closed structure (like PC case) then it is easy to see how most of the basic mechanisms, infrastructure, can be shared and yet the program as a whole can produce completely different results.

Yes.

If you look how much of an ape also exist in a human, this shouldn't come as a surprise.

did sir read the article

That's not a very striking example - Humans are apes, by any reasonable phylogeny.

More striking would be how apes share 60% of their DNA with the bananas we so love to eat!

"share most of your code" is very much false in most cases. you are exaggerating by a huge margin for any serious piece of software

Am I?

How many serious applications have more code than the operating system, all libraries it uses, all extra tools running there to make it work/usable/maintainable, all CPU design, and so on?

Even if you just look at the Linux kernel there aren't many applications that have more code than it has. If you add all standard library and basic OS and additional tools like SSH and likes that you typically have installed then I am not even sure there exists any single application that would have more code than that.

i think this analogy seems very good

its also interesting that a water flea had more genes than us, and something like a worm had about the same ...

Anyone interested in how much more complex evolution is over just genetic material alone, should pick up a copy of the book "Evolution in Four Dimensions"[0]. It goes into how genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication) all contribute to a species complexity and ability to evolve.

[0]https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolution-four-dimensions

Wow. A humbling article. I've been reading a lot about evolutionary biology and genetics and fancied I had a good enough understanding of how DNA worked physically. Apparently not!

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