Why it's dangerous to liken genetic codes to computer codes

[Cherry Lavell]

Dear All

The Observer (Sunday 22 Sept) had this very good explanation by John Naughton of the question above – see

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/21/why-its-dangerous-to-liken-dna-to-computer-code

 

I summarize (far too baldly, so do please read that piece): computer programmers have no real theory of programming so they simply test, rewrite and alter their program until it works properly. But there will still be bugs, hence they have to issue all those repeated ‘patches’. By contrast, there is no way to patch biological (GM) systems once out in the wild, and there is no risk-free containment system.

 

Best wishes

Cherry