> I don't believe you can extract the meaning of a program without understanding the computer that is supposed to run it (except perhaps by statistical analysis of its results when being run, which is generally how we are studying it today).
This made me think of what forces of life are maybe engaging in within this universe: We can't know the structure of the machine running this simulation, but if we probe the results of the running simulation enough, we can understand everything of the system running it.
In the Einstein sense, maybe that's how we know God? :)
If the functional units of DNA are composable then the computational complexity of the problem decreases dramatically. We can use symbols instead of functions and derive an abstract algebra of life.
That doesn't seem plausible to me. DNA, just like a compiled program, is a set of instructions for a specific computer. I don't believe you can extract the meaning of a program without understanding the computer that is supposed to run it (except perhaps by statistical analysis of its results when being run, which is generally how we are studying it today).
Now, if we did have a deep understanding of cellular machinery, of the way cells organize into organs and organisms, and of the functionality of each of these organs, including the brain, and the way they collaborate to produce cognition, THEN we could perhaps decompile the DNA into a high-level algorithm, where we could say something like 'these are instructions for programming a stem cell to specialize into a cell which feeds cells that react when this chemical is encountered in concentrations greater than X over a time period of Y'. But this is likely the opposite approach to what you were asking - you would need to have an almost complete understanding of the biochemistry of the entire body, and of the way it gives rise to intelligence, at which point the DNA itself may not be so important anymore in the hunt for AGI.