ID/Evolution and Michael Behe

[Stu]

Yes, it was easier to cut and paste; but the same lines are in the earlier version. No reference to software improvements based on DNA studies.

You're quite possibly right; I heard that bit of news second hand so don't have a source.
The reason I provided the quote was to show that Bill Gates, owner of the world's largest software company, sees fit to make the comparison between DNA and human-designed software.

But besides Gates, there are other hardware / software companies that do look to DNA and biomimicry to design computer-orientated products:

IBM Uses DNA to Make Next-gen Microchips

Yes, I am pretty unhappy with the analogy of genetics and computers. The DC electrical flow to water flow is a good one. It aids in grasping concepts.

Again, if a company like IBM are looking to DNA has a reference for designing future generation microchips, then I think one is well justified in making the analogy.

A few examples:
the genetic system is a pre-existing operating system - what is the analogous computer it runs on?
the specific genetic program (genome) is an application - (operating systems are programs too) what does this program run on? how is it analogous to a computer program?
the codes are read by enzyme computers with their own operating system - but the genetic system was operating system? what system and programs do these enzyme computers run? Is the enzyme computer the same as an enzyme? if so, isn't that coded for in the DNA? Is this saying the operating system produces computers?
is it really encryption to represent 3 in binary as 11 or leucine as CUU or CUC or CUA or CUG (and why does one side have a unique representation whereas the other has four possibilities?)
last bit - and there are even more parts which actually carry out construction of materials - is this analogous to printers? where are the queues and storage devices?

It's important not to get bogged down in an exact point-by-point comparison, as that would be pointless -- it would suggest that bio-computers function exactly the same as their human-designed counterparts. If that were the case, well then we would have nothing to learn by stuying them, or copying them.
Remember, the contention of Bill Gates and companies like IBM is that human DNA is far superior to that of any human design. So we should not expect the two to function in an absolute analogous manner.

It's like suggesting we couldn't make comparisons between a human designed micro-chip and one say discovered in a crash-landed UFO because the "chip" onboard was far more advanced. They might go about executing operations in a different manner but the overall function remains the same. A good example might be the movie Terminator 2. The CPU found in the Terminator was far more advanced, and not directly (in the strictest sense of the word) analogous to our own, but the end-function remained the same.

I just don't see an analogy which applies at a specific enough level to be useful. It may be a starting point but I don't see it going anywhere. How can understanding one system be of any aid in understanding the other? We've got two complicated systems which have only superficial resemblances.

Send an e-mail to IBM and ask them

[musician]

Zoe, appreciate what you are saying, but not really what I'm driving at. I understand that evolution has no goal. But anyone, including Darwinists will speak of the function of the eye, kidney, etc. Yet recognizing function is standing on teleological grounds. That is taboo territory. Function indicates purpose. Purpose indicates that the eye, the kidney, are caused. And ultimately by design.

Quite. After all, life and death are merely relative periods of biological stability and instability. Form, function, purpose, intent, good, bad, design, emotions, hopes, dreams, fitness, and the like are all entirely meaningless. In fact, the only thing closely resembling authority is death and it seems to reside with whatever is most able to deal it out at any one time -- not to worry though, death is a bio-diversification event and should be celebrated.

/sarcasm

- N