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For those who missed Chapters 1-11 of this absolutely fascinating series see:

(Stay tuned for Chapter 13)

Ping!

You might read this 1988 Atlantic Monthly article about ed fredkin’s view on the universe and information.

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/88apr/wright.htm

This ‘DNA is information’ topic is fascinating.

Instinct. That’s the simplistic term given to a host of animal behaviors (at least it was when I was growing up). Of course, there are many ‘hard-wired’ involuntary responses that have been built into us. Examples include breathing, balancing, and a host of others.

Even more fascinating to me are the ‘softer skills’ that seem to be hard-coded into animals. These would be species-specific behaviors. Here are some examples I posit:

How a feline behaves. Whether raised in isolation or not, whether domesticated or not, a cat behaves like a cat. There are some personality differences between individuals... but fundamentally the species ‘acts’ pretty much the same. (I won’t bother giving examples - any of you could come up with such a list of traits/behaviors.) This species-specific behavior seems to apply to all animals.

Further, is a cat’s behavior really voluntary? Interesting thought.

Question: How in God’s name did a sequence of DNA base pairs cause a physical structure or recording of that behavior to be imprinted into a cat’s brain?

Bird nest construction. For each species, there is a set pattern (blueprint?) to their construction. Shape, size, materials, and location. The instructions for this are in their brain in some form. Not only is it mind-boggling to consider that this even ‘does’ occur, what is the mechanism to ‘translate’ a DNA sequence to an artifact in the brain that reliably permits the bird to build a nest? How is the DNA sequence ‘read’, ‘translated’, and ‘deposited’ into the brain? The IT part of me believes this strongly implies something like a computer ‘language’ to translate the DNA instruction sequence to a physical brain ‘structure’. Very, complicated. Designed? You bet.

{Note: For those folks who think we’ve figured out DNA, try this - change the DNA code in a a hummingbird to build a robin’s nest. THEN I’ll really be impressed.}

Insects and the A-10 Warthog. When constructed, the A-10 is built ‘around’ it’s huge Gatling gun. I view many insects as having the same design criteria. A good example is the spider and it’s web-producing spinnerets. In it’s tiny little brain, deposited there while growing from a single egg and strand of DNA, are all the instructions necessary to use it’s primary-weapon. And, boy, is it useful.

Scorpions, wasps, mosquitoes, praying mantis, etc...
built around a primary-weapon, including the instruction set somehow implanted in their little brains. How does this instruction manual get there?

[An aside. As we progress to larger-brained animals, there seems to be less of the ‘hardwired’ instructions for doing specific tasks. Insects, as an example, simply ‘know’ how to build useful things for themselves. Why don’t humans have brain-implants from their DNA to let them build useful things? Perhaps a Bow and Arrow, for instance?]

Comments welcomed... cheee

Thanks for the post and the links.

Just ordered a copy of the book. This one is significantly better than usual.