1605: DNA

2015-11-18T15:53:48Z

TheUnreal:

{{comic
| number = 1605
| date = November 18, 2015
| title = DNA
| image = dna.png
| titletext = Researchers just found the gene responsible for mistakenly thinking we've found the gene for specific things. It's the region between the start and the end of every chromosome, plus a few segments in our mitochondria.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Good and short explanation; maybe someone needs an explanation for the tite text.}}

Because we have pretty much {{w|Human Genome Project|mapped the entire human Genome}}, it's tempting to think we now know what makes our bodies tick. But just knowing what the individual pieces are doesn't mean we know how they interact and behave in a complex system like our bodies.

In the comic, mapping the human genome is likened to knowing the {{w|source code}} for a program. By studying the source code for a program, a person can often understand why it does what it does, and make effective and fundamental changes to the program's operation. The comic points out that while in theory that could be the case with the human body, the reality is the human body is such a magnitude more complicated than the kinds of programs we have running that the comparison is not valid. Simply looking at the source code for the deceptively simple-looking Google home page shows there's a lot of complexity there.

What makes this worse for DNA is that although it can be thought of 'source code' it isn't for a comprehensive language, and that this code isn't written by someone but iteratively generated. This means that not all parts make sense and that there may by all kinds of side effects and parts that have several meanings. Looking at some obfuscated source code may make it clearer how misleading even simple looking code can be and how unreadable correct and well working code can be.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is standing with Megan while holding a laptop]
:White Hat: Biology is largely solved. DNA is the source code for our bodies. Now that gene sequencing is easy, we just have to read it.
:Megan: It's not just "source code". There's a ton of feedback and external processing.

:[White Hat walks past Megan toward a desk and chair]
:Megan: But even if it were, DNA is the result of the most aggressive optimization process in the universe, running in parallel at every level, in every living thing, for four billion years.
:White Hat: It's still just code.

:[White Hat sits down at the desk and opens his laptop]
:Megan: Ok, try opening google.com and clicking "View Source".
:White Hat: Ok, I-... Oh my god.
:Megan: That's just a few years of optimization by Google devs. DNA is thousands of times longer and way, way worse.
:White Hat: Wow, biology is impossible.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Science]]

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1605: DNA