Crispr gene editing in human embryos wreaks chromosomal mayhem

Re:Crispr gene editing in human embryos wreaks chromosomal m... by shpongled on Sunday June 28, 2020 @02:09PM (#23670761)

"Spooky action at a distance" doesn't imply that it's not governed by physical rules - and I think it's certainly a valid descriptor for biological systems as a whole.

Yes, we can break down aspects of biology into nice subsystems that we can define rules for - e.g. we have a pretty good idea of how DNA polymerase, or the ribosome carry out their duties (in isolation). It's when we start looking at the emergent properties of having all of these things in one larger system that our understanding starts to break down.

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Re:Crispr gene editing in human embryos wreaks chromosomal m... by ethbro on Sunday June 28, 2020 @04:28PM (#23671782)

Valid / invalid for metaphors, to me, depends on the audience.

For laypeople, ill equiped to deal with high orders of complexity: spooky.

For people in the field: details.

For some audiences being accurate is less descriptive than being reductionist. Because if you lose your audience's attention, you've communicated no accuracy.

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