[FRIAM] Morphogenisis

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

This struck me: 

 

When animals develop, they don't follow a script. Instead, responding to
their environment, the cells negotiate and feel their way toward a final
form. A fertilized egg divides, and divides again, creating a hollow ball of
cells called a blastula; genes instruct these cells to release chemicals,
and other cells, reacting to those chemical concentrations, decide to
migrate elsewhere or to develop into specific types of tissue. Other
influences-oxygen, nutrients, hormones, sometimes toxins-further shape
gestation.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/persuading-the-body-to-regener
ate-its-limbs?utm_source=nl
<https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/persuading-the-body-to-regene
rate-its-limbs?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_050821&utm_
campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bd678d924c17c104801f684&cndid=408359
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d55f51451bc7&hashc=0c6ef6b7bc8221288e1f4a4ca0116d78a21ebdbe47949488640c7c54c
93120fb&esrc=AUTO_PRINT&utm_term=TNY_Daily>
&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_050821&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=
email&bxid=5bd678d924c17c104801f684&cndid=40835928&hasha=1dc6f15a30be2d4712f
ae5f0e5a9a679&hashb=5e4befc88214fadc869224d7cb34d55f51451bc7&hashc=0c6ef6b7b
c8221288e1f4a4ca0116d78a21ebdbe47949488640c7c54c93120fb&esrc=AUTO_PRINT&utm_
term=TNY_Daily

 

First, note the reliance on psychological terms.  This is the sort of
passage that would stimulate my teasing Hywel with, "So you see, Hywel,
psychology really IS the mother of all sciences."  And don't any of you DARE
to come back at me with, "It's just a metaphor."  

 

Second, which of these two models encapsulates more closely what you wizards
mean by computation.  Is carrying out an algorithm  more like "computation"
or is "building a limb"? Is a salamander's limb "computed"?  If so, who
computes it, or is that a violation of the language of computation.   I
know.  Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread. 

 

Your loyal fool, 

 

Nic 

Nick Thompson

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

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