January 11, 2024
Artificial intelligence (AI) can help humans transcend biology, replacing it with technology. This article briefly touches on genetics, DNA, and RNA. They are realities of biological life that may prove completely useless and irrelevant for the future of smart life in the universe.
Life can be seen as organic compounds seeking electromagnetic stability. Physics and chemistry lead to the formation of organic molecules and compounds. As these organic compounds interact with each other, the "magic" of biology comes to life. There is no magic, but rather a compounded aggregation of many interconnected actions and reactions of organic chemistry.
As examples, let's briefly and in simple terms discuss the two most famous molecules of organic life: DNA and RNA. These are acids in the nucleus or center of cells, and are thus called nucleic acids. Ribonucleic acid is RNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid is DNA. Both DNA and RNA are made of a sugar bound to a phosphate group serving as the foundation or backbone for columns or spikes of nitrogenous bases. The prefix "ribo" in ribonucleic comes from ribose, the five-carbon atoms sugar in RNA. The "deoxy" prefix means without oxygen, and refers to deoxyribose, the five-carbon sugar in DNA.
Both DNA and RNA are polymers (long strands of molecules). The strands are composed of monomers (smaller "beads" of molecules) called nucleotides. The base or "backbone" of a DNA or RNA strand is formed by a sugar electromagnetically bound to a phosphate group. On top of that backbone strand, columns or "spikes" of nitrogenous bases lineup. RNA is a single strand consisting of the sugar-phosphate backbone with the nitrogenous spikes. RNA looks like a strand of tape with perpendicular spikes or columns. DNA is a double strand consisting of two backbones of sugar-phosphate with spikes of nitrogenous bases. DNA looks like a ladder where the side rails are the sugar-phosphate backbone and the nitrogenous bases connected by hydrogen bonds are the steps of the ladder. Hydrogen bonds connect the nitrogenous bases holding together two backbones of DNA as side rails of a helical ladder.
DNA is very long. However, it coils tightly around protein structures called "histones" to form nucleosomes. A nucleosome looks like a Yo-Yo where the DNA strand is the string, and the histone is the yo-yo base. Nucleosomes coil and stack together to form chromatin fibers. Chromatin fibers loop and fold with the help of additional proteins to form chromosomes. Chromosomes are tightly packed DNA "yo-yos" stacked together. Chromosomes bind up in pairs. There are 46 chromosomes in human cells (23 pairs). Chromosomes are formed and also duplicated before cells divide. Copies of chromosomes are "inherited" or passed down from the parent cell to the offspring cell.
Prior to cell division, DNA is not as tightly wrapped around the histones. When DNA is loose and not tightly packed, it interacts with amino acids. The interaction of DNA with amino acids results in the formation of proteins. That is why humans metaphorically say that cells are "factories" of proteins, and that DNA "codes" for protein formation by carrying the "blueprint" or manufacturing "information" for proteins.
Proteins are large organic molecules made of amino acids. In seeking energy stability, proteins fold into different three-dimensional (3D) structures of different shapes. The specific structural shape of a protein ends up facilitating specific biological functions that sustain the set of processes recognized as life. For example, a protein may form like a bowl that carries water. Another protein may fold like a mesh that filters water. Another protein may fold like a straw that directs the flow of water. Proteins are like utensils and kitchenware, or like tools and machinery, that make the fabrication of life processes possible. Proteins form tissues; tissues form organs; and organs form the systems of life. There are many different types of proteins. The exact number of proteins in the human body is still being researched and debated. Some estimates range from 20,000–60,000 different proteins, while others believe the number could be hundreds of thousands to over a million. The number of different types of proteins in tissue is called proteome width. The number of copies of the same protein in tissue is called proteome depth.
The nitrogenous bases in DNA "code" for the assembly of different proteins. There is no actual "coding". That is a metaphor of the 1950s. In fact, electromagnetic dynamics result in specific sequences of nitrogenous bases and amino acid combinations. In DNA, the nitrogenous bases are: adenine (A); thymine (T); cytosine (C); and guanine (G). Adenine (A) pairs with thymine (T), (A = T). Cytosine (C) pairs with guanine (G), (C = G). A and T form two hydrogen bonds uniting the electronegative oxygen atom (on thymine) and nitrogen atom (on adenine) with the slightly positive hydrogen atoms on each molecule. C and G form three hydrogen bonds with each other. In RNA, instead of thymine (T), there is uracil (U), which has a very similar structure as T. There are 20 amino acids that interact with the nitrogenous bases to form different proteins. Every three bases attract a specific amino acid in specific sequences depending on how the nitrogenous bases are lined up in DNA. Since DNA is replicated before the cell splits or divides, the DNA "instructions" are "inherited" by the new cell.
The replication of DNA is caused by RNA. When DNA is loose (not tightly coiled around histones), pieces of RNA break the hydrogen bonds that keep the two sides of the DNA "ladder" attached. The breaking of the hydrogen bonds separates, or "unzips" as the metaphor goes, the DNA. Once the DNA is open or separate ("unzipped") other RNA strands fly by it. The exposed DNA "spikes" (the nitrogenous bases) are copied or printed into the RNAs strand. The RNA strands also interact with each other and any strand that got a less stable or "incorrect" copy gets "corrected" by electromagnetic replacement of the suitable (more stable) nitrogenous base. As a result of these interactions, DNA is replicated. The copies eventually coil tightly into histones, and chromatin fibers form chromosomes. Prior to cell division, the cell has 23 new pairs that are passed down to the offspring cell.
As cells acquire and metabolize energy (ATP), the dynamic interaction of the nucleic acids DNA and RNA between themselves and with other organic compounds such as amino acids lead to the formation of copies and the creation of different proteins. As cells grow, they split exponentially. One cells splits into two; two into four; four into eight; eight into sixteen; and so forth for exponential growth. There are trillions of cells in the human body. Now, before the cell splits, the DNA has already been replicated. The new cell carries a copy of the DNA of the parent cell. That is how DNA "information" is inherited or passed down in biology.
Biological life may be explained as a series of organic compounds seeking electromagnetic stability. Organic life is excessively complex. As far as science can tell, biological life is not the product of smart design. Organic life is a derivative of about 4 billion years of dynamic mutation (evolution) and utilitarian elimination (natural selection).
In a distant future, artificial intelligence (AI) should be able to help humans create a new form of life. This new life form could be produced by super smart design. It could be free of unnecessary complexities and fragilities of organic life. All the DNA and RNA "genetic" complexities can be bypassed by smart design. "Genetics" is how organic life produced intelligence, but by no means is the only way or the "sacred" way.
The AI of the future, a super intelligence that is not bound by the constraints and shackles of "mother" nature will prove more convenient for planet Earth, Mars, Venus, space stations in between, and more. Humans will be able to transcend the human condition by replacing biology with technology. The smart combination of humans and AI, or perhaps the complete replacement of humans with super smart AI life forms are the best chances of life expanding out of Earth into outer space.
Stay tuned.
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