Re: Directed evolution

feedbackdroid <feedbackdroid@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Dec 24, 4:28 pm, d...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (DK) wrote:
feedbackdroid <feedbackdr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Some of us feel that the future of biology is systems biology

Oh, the new kid on the block in the buzzwords department.
Just looked Wikipedia article on it. LOL, hilarious. Apparently,
techniques associated with it are:
        Transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, glycomics,
interactomics, fluxomics (!!!) and biomics.

I am shocked at the omission of another brand new dispicpline
of science - "lipidomics" :-)


Umm ... new kid on the block ... good one.

"Systems biology" as a supposed scientific discipline is a
*new* buzzword, nothing else. (Which is perfectly illustrated
by the number of ridiculous buzzwords used to describe it).

The only context where the phrase would actually makes
sense and describe anything real and distinct from
biochemistry, cell biology and physiology is if we were
able to model organisms. But we are nowhere near.

You might try looking up Ludwig von Bertalanffy (b. 1901) on
wikipedia. I doubt he ever heard the words you've left us, but lots of
other interesting words on the page though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy

Nothing's wrong with generalizing about complex systems.
I mentioned Prigogine in another message. Without knowing
details, such generalizations are of limited practical value,
alas - no matter how brilliant they are. (Which is illustrated
by the fact that 99% of biologists never heard of Prigogine
or Bertalanffy). Did Bertalanffy use phrase "system biology"?
I doubt it.

DK


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