Who Is Biology's Feynman?
I just had a sort of summation of a long introspection that I have been having for some months now. Though the answer seems even farther now, I at least understand the problem better.
What am I doing? I am trying to understand a biological phenomenon with various tools that can be used for observing the phenomenon that technology/time/availability/money can afford. I am in a field that is expanding rapidly and already has many major milestones. The opportunities in such a diversified field are many, but is that what I want? Lots of questions on which I can potentially work for years? Anyone doing the work I do will arrive at the same results, he just needs intuition and common sense above a certain cut off (Usually this cut-off determines if science is the field for him/her).
My creativity/imagination is just used in identifying a particular piece of puzzle that hasn't been solved by anyone else. Again, in such a diversified field, such identification is just random, hit or miss or usually brought by a patron who has been in a particular sub-field for so many years that he knows whats been done and whats not.
The pursuit of research now is then "What" and "How" rather than "Why". I have been pushing around my mind this lack of "Why". I agree that it takes a good deal of intelligence to solve a complex biological problem like functioning of an ion channel or the signaling mechanisms of biological systems. And of course its fascinating to know the consequences, like homeostasis or fast responses to external stimuli.
But is there an underlying law which governs Biology? There are so many indications of one. The genetic material of all organisms, be it a bug or a human is made up of DNA. All proteins on this earth have been shown to have only a limited number of distinct "folds" or shapes, though there are millions of possibilities.
"Survival of the fittest" Evolution can be thought of as the answer. But I would discard it as the "trivial solution".
Then what is the unifying law governing Biology??
What am I doing? I am trying to understand a biological phenomenon with various tools that can be used for observing the phenomenon that technology/time/availability/money can afford. I am in a field that is expanding rapidly and already has many major milestones. The opportunities in such a diversified field are many, but is that what I want? Lots of questions on which I can potentially work for years? Anyone doing the work I do will arrive at the same results, he just needs intuition and common sense above a certain cut off (Usually this cut-off determines if science is the field for him/her).
My creativity/imagination is just used in identifying a particular piece of puzzle that hasn't been solved by anyone else. Again, in such a diversified field, such identification is just random, hit or miss or usually brought by a patron who has been in a particular sub-field for so many years that he knows whats been done and whats not.
The pursuit of research now is then "What" and "How" rather than "Why". I have been pushing around my mind this lack of "Why". I agree that it takes a good deal of intelligence to solve a complex biological problem like functioning of an ion channel or the signaling mechanisms of biological systems. And of course its fascinating to know the consequences, like homeostasis or fast responses to external stimuli.
But is there an underlying law which governs Biology? There are so many indications of one. The genetic material of all organisms, be it a bug or a human is made up of DNA. All proteins on this earth have been shown to have only a limited number of distinct "folds" or shapes, though there are millions of possibilities.
"Survival of the fittest" Evolution can be thought of as the answer. But I would discard it as the "trivial solution".
Then what is the unifying law governing Biology??
posted by nomad at 10:03 PM
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