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Re:Feynman: There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom (1959) by shawkinaw on Sunday December 29, 2013 @09:00PM (#6982616)
I wouldn't call amino acids "large complex basic units" at all, they may be bigger than an atom but 10-20 heavy atoms is hardly complex. Plus many amino acids themselves are synthesized in vivo.

Moreover, this misses the point somewhat, namely that the resulting peptide chain folds into a protein with essentially atomically precision. Atoms may not be placed one by one, but an atomically precise structure is created.

Re:Feynman: There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom (1959) by maaku on Sunday December 29, 2013 @10:06PM (#6982799)
When the machinery you want to lay out is composed of carbon atoms placed at sub-nanometer scale, 10-20 heavy atoms is like boxing gloves.