Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: cphoenix@csli.stanford.edu (Chris Phoenix) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: Is this stuff for real? Keywords: reality nanotech questions Message-ID: Date: 24 Mar 91 23:24:54 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford U. Lines: 18 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu In article john@granada.mit.edu (John Olson) writes: >In article 992, Chris Phoenix writes: >>that the DNA doesn't: it has a computer. The computer can manipulate >>the memory far more easily and reliably than the cell can manipulate >>the DNA. > >I am not convinced of this. My understanding is that DNA replication is >very reliable. Keep in mind the vast information content of DNA, and the >rarity of mutations. Perhaps I shouldn't have said "reliably". However, my main point was "manipulate". Computers can do things to their memory that cells simply can't do to their DNA. For example, perform arbitrary Turing-computable computations on it, and compare arbitrary different parts of it. This is what allows computers to be designed with "mutation" rates as low as you want. And this was the main thrust of half of my previous article--that we don't have to worry about software mutation in a well-designed nanomachine.