"Ray Scanlon" <rscanlon at wsg.net> writes:
>F. Frank LeFever wrote in message <71gkgt$ibc at sjx-ixn6.ix.netcom.com>...
>>In <71cqlh$gol at ux.cs.niu.edu> rickert at cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) writes:
>>Poor metaphore. How about this one (it has its own flaws, but at least
>>it is different): is the cell like a computer "using" DNA like a
>>program? or is the program "using" the computer? (Not QUITE the same
>>question as "is a chicken an egg's way of making another egg?", but
>>reminds me of it...)
>As a professor of computer science, Neil may enjoy your computer story but I
>doubt it. It is too close to the notion that the software is the mind and
>the computer the brain.
Software prescribes the actions of a computer far more precisely than
does DNA prescribe the actions of a cell.
>>(Bytheway: just what IS his point, anyway? In 50 words or less.)
>Possibly politics. He is much taken by Rose (and Lewontin?), Marxists both.
>(Please, Please! I have absolutely nothing against Marxism, however DNA is a
>dirty word to some.)
Ah yes, the old "it must be politics" argument. It is always easier
to make such accustions, than to actually address the important
issues.
No, I am not a Marxist, and I do not consider DNA a dirty word. I
happen to like science to be accurate, and not just a set of "Just
So" stories.