Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
In terms of philosophy, we are becoming iconoclastic here however. Emergent
properties are sometimes defined as the properties that are irreducible. If prop-
erties can be calculated then by some kinds of definition they are not emergent.
We consider this definition inappropriate, and it may stem from an oversight
of the distinction between linear and nonlinear calculations. Properties that can
be calculated from a linear superposition of properties of the components of a
system (such as their total mass) should indeed not be called emergent. The
important distinction comes when qualitatively new properties can be calculated
in systems with essential nonlinear interactions. Only then are the properties
new, they were not present in the components, and should indeed be said to
'emerge' (Solé & Goodwin, 2000,
pace
Boogerd et al., 2005).
We here make the challenging statement that life is calculable and can there-
fore be captured in a computer model. Within 10 or 20 years a silicon cell will
have been constructed that accurately describes the main elements and behaviour
of a living cell, and therefore can be rightfully considered a replica of the cell.
Of course there are some exceptions with respect to a straightforward calcula-
tion of all aspects of life. These include deterministic chaos, systems that are
extremely heterogeneous, and life beyond its simplest form already present in
unicellular microorganisms. This said, a Digital Human, both generated and
available
in silico
at a suitably coarse-grained level, will be a fantastic boon for
both academic researchers and the Pharmaceutical industry alike; for the latter
it may be expected to decrease substantially the present enormous attrition rates
of candidate drugs.
The issue of biological evolution too is much more important than suggested
by our virtual lack of reference here. However, we have decided here to focus on
life as it is at a certain moment in evolutionary history, not on how it came about
in the sense of evolution. We think that the explanation of life as such is already
a significant and challenging problem that requires systems biology for good
answers. Perhaps with this treatise, and certainly with the entire topic, we hope
to have attracted Philosophers of science to a rapidly developing biology which
may well be the place where things are happening in philosophy right now.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
DBK thanks the BBSRC and EPSRC for financial support, and for keeping alive
nonhypothesis-dependent science during the dark days and now, and Steve Oliver
and Ross King for many interesting discussions. HVW thanks Fred Boogerd and
Frank Bruggeman and many participants in the symposium for many thoughts
and much food for thought, before, during and hopefully after the event. He
is also grateful to the BBSRC, NWO, EU-FP6 and IOP-Genomics for various
modes of support.
