physiology = millennia of chance and adaptions under various pressures, creating immensely complex systems that just blow my mind.
Again, read that review. A central point of the book is that evolved systems repeatedly converge on similar patterns, because those are the patterns which work well. Economics, on the other hand, is largely a mathematical discipline studying general properties of things-which-work-well for optimization. Through that lens, it makes a lot of sense to apply economic models to biological systems.
I would suggest researching the connections between hunger/intake/digestion/absorption/blood glucose/beta cells/insulin/cell uptake/cell demand/exertion/renal excretion of glucose/polyuria/polydipsia— it’s complex.
Biological models have much to teach us. If we ask the questions and notice the connections rather than trying to make them fit with our explanation.
Consider this picture:
There’s a dog in the picture. Once you see the dog, there’s still a lot going on in the picture, but the whole thing makes a lot more sense.
That’s what theory is about. It’s not “trying to make [reality] fit our explanation”, it’s about noticing hidden structure. That’s the sort of value I expect economic theory would provide in physiology.
The structure of insulin/glucose regulation is the structure of a market. Yes, the system is complicated, and there’s a lot of moving pieces—that’s true in markets too. But over long timescales, the pieces are interacting primarily through a price signal—insulin—and that’s the key characteristic which makes it a market, regardless of whatever else is going on locally. That’s a useful piece of hidden structure.
I have read the insulin analogy (I read it before first commenting here).
I don’t know if the insulin analogy is from the book itself or your interpretation. But it is flawed. For multiple reasons. I started to pick it apart line by line but then decided a better course of action would be to try pointing you in the right direction—so that you could do the research about the physiological system, learn about what you are trying to label and then consider whether it is a good path to be following.
Does it really make sense to apply economic labels to physiological systems?
That’s the sort of value I expect economic theory would provide in physiology.
Expect? Careful that you are not rationalising your beliefs.
You should check out the explanation of insulin/glucose regulation in my review of Design Principles of Biological Circuits.
Again, read that review. A central point of the book is that evolved systems repeatedly converge on similar patterns, because those are the patterns which work well. Economics, on the other hand, is largely a mathematical discipline studying general properties of things-which-work-well for optimization. Through that lens, it makes a lot of sense to apply economic models to biological systems.
Consider this picture:
There’s a dog in the picture. Once you see the dog, there’s still a lot going on in the picture, but the whole thing makes a lot more sense.
That’s what theory is about. It’s not “trying to make [reality] fit our explanation”, it’s about noticing hidden structure. That’s the sort of value I expect economic theory would provide in physiology.
The structure of insulin/glucose regulation is the structure of a market. Yes, the system is complicated, and there’s a lot of moving pieces—that’s true in markets too. But over long timescales, the pieces are interacting primarily through a price signal—insulin—and that’s the key characteristic which makes it a market, regardless of whatever else is going on locally. That’s a useful piece of hidden structure.
I have read the insulin analogy (I read it before first commenting here).
I don’t know if the insulin analogy is from the book itself or your interpretation. But it is flawed. For multiple reasons. I started to pick it apart line by line but then decided a better course of action would be to try pointing you in the right direction—so that you could do the research about the physiological system, learn about what you are trying to label and then consider whether it is a good path to be following.
Does it really make sense to apply economic labels to physiological systems?
Expect? Careful that you are not rationalising your beliefs.