65 lines
3.4 KiB
TeX
65 lines
3.4 KiB
TeX
\chapter{A Deal with Life}
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Life is one of the most beautiful things in the universe. Arguably,
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it is because we humans belong to the kingdom of Life that it
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fascinates us so. Beyond its intrinsic beauty to which our sensory
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organs are attuned, it also deeply attracts us because of the
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self-referentiality of its contemplation: when thinking about Life, we
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often think about our interactions with it, and ultimately
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about ourselves.
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Self-referentiality is also a hurdle: it is intrinsically difficult to
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conceive of oneself. Even though theoretical computer science is no
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substitute for philosophy, I enjoy taking Gödel's incompleteness
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theorems\footnote{\url{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gödel's_incompleteness_theorems}}
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and especially Hilbert's
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\emph{Entscheidungsproblem}\footnote{\url{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entscheidungsproblem}}
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and the halting
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problem\footnote{\url{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem}}
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as vivid examples: Turing's famous proof states that a Turing machine
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cannot generally decide whether another Turing machine will ever halt.
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Since abstract computing devices can be seen as distant
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mathematizations of the human brain, this formal result hints that
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entirely conceiving of our mind---and by extension of Life itself---is
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borderline intractable.
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The difficulty of self-referiantiality is also deeply disturbing,
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especially because understanding how our bodies function within their
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environments has so many essential implications: dealing with the
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climate crisis, tackling diseases, improving the quality of life, to
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only cite the foremost ones. To avoid the worry of looking into the
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mirror for too long, one can brutally build a wall between oneself and
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``the rest'' of Life, and adopt what may be called the Engineer's
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position: a living organism is a machine constituted out of mechanical
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pieces, whilst the human disassembles, adjusts, and reassembles them
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again, improved.
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Modern biology, medicine, biotechnology illustrate the high
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performance of the Engineer's approach, and this text is not
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a criticism of mechanicism per se. Nevertheless, its efficiency does
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not entail total truthfulness, nor even exclusivity about truth.
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In other words, mechanistic views allowing for impressive technical
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achievements does not mean that these views fully reflect reality, nor
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that mechanicism is the final stop on our journey to understanding
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Life. In my research, I aim for exploring different approaches to
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Life and tools supporting such approaches. I take particular
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enthusiasm in thinking about striking \emph{a deal with Life}:
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establishing \emph{mutually beneficial} interactions with living
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systems.
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Concluding deals as opposed to taking the Engineer's position resets
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the power balance in our relationship with Life: instead of seeking to
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control, hack, or otherwise dominate living organisms, the goal is to
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further take into account their well-being. I believe that
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approaching Life from this viewpoint is essential if we are after true
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solutions to fundamental problems such as the climate crisis or
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complex diseases. On a more philosophical note, the framework of
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mutually beneficial interactions should remind us that our
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intelligence in no way warrants an extraction of the human being into
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an exceptional superior stance---we are part of Life, and we ought to
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think and act accordingly.
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