Monday 9 August 2010

Free Will and Genetic Probability - a sketch

I've taken a bit of time tonight to read some online pieces by two of my favourite scientists, Jerry Coyne (discussing free will) and Craig Venter (discussing the human genome).  I bounce around a lot while reading, and was going back to each article like a round of Pong. 
The way Venter described how decoding the human genome has not and will not lead to saying "Oh, you will get Alzheimer's at 72, it's in your genes" was interesting compared with Coyne discussing how high variability of factors doesn't mean free will exists.  Neither is contradicting each other the way I read it, but both are facing a public perception that free will and genetic determinism will both be true. Interesting. 


Mid-way through Coyne's piece about free will, this image popped in my head and I sketched it for the next 20 minutes using the digital painting program ArtRage. Click to enlarge if you want. 






Here are the links to the two articles that popped this in my head, in an involuntary, or complex, or high-variability, low-predictive probable way.

-Another sweating professor: Egginton on free will (again) - Why Evolution is True
-Interview with Craig Venter - Spiegel Online

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