One of the problems with simulating cells is that cells are rather complex. To help with this, researchers optimized cells towards simplicity (by, among other things, successively removing genes and seeing if the cell still functioned). They then took said cells and analyzed them as best they could.
Today[1] in ‘incremental advances in bottom-up simulation research’ we have this.
As it turns out, these cells are simple enough (and well-understood enough) that they are feasible to simulate over an entire cell division cycle[2]. It’s not a perfect simulation for various reasons, but still is progress[3].
(It’s when simulating and explaining a human neuron in this fashion becomes feasible that things become interesting.)
There’s kind of a hierarchy of models here, where the more complex low-level (and slower / smaller scale) models ultimately serve as sources of parameters and insights for higher-level models.
One of the problems with simulating cells is that cells are rather complex. To help with this, researchers optimized cells towards simplicity (by, among other things, successively removing genes and seeing if the cell still functioned). They then took said cells and analyzed them as best they could.
Today[1] in ‘incremental advances in bottom-up simulation research’ we have this.
As it turns out, these cells are simple enough (and well-understood enough) that they are feasible to simulate over an entire cell division cycle[2]. It’s not a perfect simulation for various reasons, but still is progress[3].
(It’s when simulating and explaining a human neuron in this fashion becomes feasible that things become interesting.)
January 20th, really, but it seems like much of LW was focused on Omicron at that time.
At a higher level of detail than before.
There’s kind of a hierarchy of models here, where the more complex low-level (and slower / smaller scale) models ultimately serve as sources of parameters and insights for higher-level models.