Wolfram- A Holist
Now that we embraced Wolfram as a biologist,
let’s see what kind of biologist he is.
Biological phenomena may be explained within two frameworks
: Reductionistic and Holistic. The first applies physical reasoning to explain
life, and is known as Cartesian reductionism. The other explains life as a
whole and is less concerned with reduction. Its philosophy is outlined in
: Hans Jonas The Phenomenon of Life- Toward a Philosophical Biology
Northwestern University Press Evanston Ill 2001 Here are some
examples; R and H stand respectively for reductionism and holism:
Gene: R: Unit of heredity which determines
physical-chemical processes in the body. DNA -> RNA -> protein.
H: Is a manifestation of complex network interacting with processes of the
body. It might be likened to a typewriter which types the four letters, ATGC
yet the typing mechanism is also part of the gene.
Brain: R: Brain electrical activity (action potentials)
accounts for our reasoning. In the future, reasoning will be read off this
activity. H: The electrical activity is an epi-phenomenon of a vast and complex
biochemical machinery which includes neurons and glia (supporting cells).
It is embodied, which means that the entire organism participates in neural
activity.
Evolution: R: Results from the selection by the environment
of individuals carrying beneficial genes. H: Is the evolution of the food
chain network, otherwise known as Gaia.
An in depth explanation is provided
here:
Reductionism paved the way to today’s technological innovations. However it
fails to explain important phenomena of modern life, e.g.,
Economy, weather, and global warming. The Black-Sholes equation won’t make
you rich. Apparently the holistic approach of Warren Buffet is more effective.
The Lorenz attractor shows that a system of differential equations cannot
predict weather and ends in chaos. The babble about global warming results
from the lack of holistic mathematical tools, which hopefully Mathematica
will provide.
Since Wolfram drove my attention to CA, I devoted my research to evaluate
their potential for holistic
explanation of biological phenomena. Now Wolfram came with an even more
intriguing concept: A simple causal network of programs
which exchange pieces of the network. Will this gem be presented
to us in the next Mahematica edition?