From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!trwacs!erwin Mon May 25 14:06:06 EDT 1992
Article 5728 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: erwin@trwacs.fp.trw.com (Harry Erwin)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: penrose
Message-ID: <591@trwacs.fp.trw.com>
Date: 18 May 92 23:47:35 GMT
References: <2524@ucl-cs.uucp> <1992May1.025230.8835@news.media.mit.edu> <1992May6.220605.26774@unixg.ubc.ca> <1992May8.115737.28474@nuscc.nus.sg> <86344@bu.edu>
Organization: TRW Systems Division, Fairfax VA
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Jerry Chandler tells me that they are beginning to understand the purpose
of the repetitive DNA that makes up an average of 90% of the genome in
eukaryotes. It's instructions for the expression of the protein-encoding
10% of the genome. This begins to remind me of classes in C++. I'll
investigate further, but it's beginning to look like we might have a
Turing Machine of a sort in every one of our cells. One aspect of this
apparently throws light on the limited number of generations that
mammalian cells survive. Apparently there's a 50-base sequence at one end
of each chromosome that is used to identify it during cell division. That
sequence gets clipped off. After about 50 generations, necessary genes
start to be damaged.

Cheers,
-- 
Harry Erwin
Internet: erwin@trwacs.fp.trw.com



