De overeenkomt tussen een sinasappel en een floppydisk..

[zrski]

What is the basic similarity between an orange and a floppy disk?

 

"The answer: They both rely on code. The floppy disk stores

information in ones and zeros. The orange has a different type of

code (the proteins represented by the letters A,T,C,G), but it is a

code nonetheless.

 

The reason we think of the two as so different is that we can

manipulate the coded information in the floppy disk. But that is

rapidly becoming true for the orange as well. Reading and re-writing

that organic code will cause changes beyond what we can imagine.

Understanding the code would enable you to turn an orange into a

contraceptive, or polyester, or a vaccine.

 

Sound farfetched? Well, each of these alterations has ALREADY been

achieved in corn. So again, if you don't see the congruence between

orange and floppy disk, you need to open your eyes and see what lies

just around the next turn.

 

Just as digital code has changed the world we live in, the genetic

code is about to change everything again. Genetics will drive the

next century and become the new dominant language."

 

-----

 

[To better appreciate the LARGE amounts of data in the genetic code,

consider this comparison:] "According to a study by the University

of California at Berkeley, the world's media is currently producing

about 1.5 exabytes of data ANNUALLY (including 7.5 quadrillion

minutes worth of telephone conversations; over 600 billion emails;

and 500 billion photocopies in the U.S. alone).

 

Compare that to all the words spoken by all the human beings

throughout all of history, [which is] estimated at [only] 5

exabytes."

 

-----

 

"To put the amount of genetic data YOU posses in perspective,

consider that your genetic code consists of three billion letters.

The code is repeated twice within each cell, and your body has about

50 trillion cells."

 

[Essentially, YOU walk around carrying 1.5^23 ("15" with 22 zeros

after it, or '150 zettabits') of data. To really appreciate the

magnitude of this number, remember that the sequence goes: Kilo,

Mega, Giga, Tera, Peta, Exa, Zetta, Yotta.]

 

-----

 

If you stretched out the DNA contained in one of your cells, it

would measure about six feet long. Inside your cell, it folds into

trillionths of an inch!

 

-----

 

"Bioinformatics involves deriving information from the 100 terabytes

of data coming out of genetics labs on an annual basis."

 

-----

 

"In the Industrial Revolution, machines enabled people to leverage

their PHYSICAL capacity a hundred- or a thousand- fold.

 

The new [genetics-based] technologies may allow people to multiply

their MENTAL energies a million or a trillion fold. The world's best

computer minds are now being drawn to the field of biology,

specifically into the fields of bioinformatics and bio-computing."

 

-----

 

"All the trends in bioscience point to exponential growth."

 

 

Sound tantalizingly like the world of semiconductors? It seems that

semiconductor's and computing's rocket-like growth is about to happen

again (driven in-part BY computing's growth). Same story, different

field. Except that in this new case, we're just at the BEGINNING of its

exponential curve...

 

Uit de harrow technology rapport

[AOS]

What is the basic similarity between an orange and a floppy disk?

 

"The answer: They both rely on code. The floppy disk stores

information in ones and zeros. The orange has a different type of

code (the proteins represented by the letters A,T,C,G), but it is a

code nonetheless.

 

The reason we think of the two as so different is that we can

manipulate the coded information in the floppy disk. But that is

rapidly becoming true for the orange as well. Reading and re-writing

that organic code will cause changes beyond what we can imagine.

Understanding the code would enable you to turn an orange into a

contraceptive, or polyester, or a vaccine.

 

-----

 

"Bioinformatics involves deriving information from the 100 terabytes

of data coming out of genetics labs on an annual basis."

 

-----

 

"In the Industrial Revolution, machines enabled people to leverage

their PHYSICAL capacity a hundred- or a thousand- fold.

 

The new [genetics-based] technologies may allow people to multiply

their MENTAL energies a million or a trillion fold. The world's best

computer minds are now being drawn to the field of biology,

specifically into the fields of bioinformatics and bio-computing."

 

-----

 

"All the trends in bioscience point to exponential growth."

 

 

Dit is allemaal wel erg sappig. Ten eerste is programmeer code, inclusief chip-architectuur afhankelijke compilatie van de grond af aan opgebouwd door mensen.

 

Bij DNA kijk je er echt tegen aan als iets wat door anderen (de evolutie) in miljarden jaren is opgebouwd tot een enorm complex systeem, waarvan de invloed van elk stukje code op zich en stukken DNA-code tesamen een enorme variateit in samenspel en interactie teweeg brengt. Dit alles zowel binnen een cel, een organisme alswel een totaal ecosysteem En ik vraag me af of die complexiteit ooit doorgrond kan worden.

 

Ietwat terug naar de werkelijkheid:

 

De huidige storm op het ontrafelen van de code en vooral ook functies toewijzen aan genen, levert een hoop aan mogelijkheden op. Zowel praktisch en zeer toepasbaar als theoretisch. Maar om het echt te begrijpen is een stuk meer voor nodig.

 

Wat bioinformatica betreft: ja, daar is een behoorlijke toekomst voor weggelegd, maar voordat men hele kantorencomplexen gaat vullen met bioinformatici:

 

Er was niet zolang geleden een artikel (zit nu in de archives waarvoor je je moet aanmelden op www.boston.com) over de Goldrush in de Bio-IT. Kort kwam het erop neer dat software voor Bio-informatica nog lastig te verkopen is, en dat je langzaam op moet bouwen. Niet alle klanten zien in waarom het bij een bedrijf of instelling nodig is.

 

Dat neemt niet weg dat er zeker al een markt voor is en dat die markt nog fiks gaat groeien! Maar pas op om hier alleen maar bergen met goud te zien.