Hi Dan, Roger and all
I'm enjoying your exchange - thanks for the invitation to participate.
ROGER
>When genetic patterns replicate, how true do
>they have to be to be considered a copy?
>And is there any original DNA?
DAN
Well perhaps someone like Jonathan could answer that one better than I.
Universe seems to be a ever regenerating process in which copying is
prohibited, at least in the context of every day reality. Universe seems
to maintain just the right balance between total chaos and infinite
sameness, or so our perceptions tell us. But who is doing the
determining as to truth? What is, is. Reality is continuous and yet
discrete simultaneously.
JONATHAN
Expecting me to make comments about DNA as a biologist may be a
diversion.
The pattern is a definition - if the definition is a particular sequence
of nucleotides, then there is no "copy" vs. "original".
Let me illustrate with a few contasting examples:
****
If I went to a live performance of Beethoven's Fifth, I wouldn't say
that I heard a "copy" of the work.
****
The definition of a "signature" is both the act of signing and the
product. If you duplicate the product without the act, this is indeed a
copy (or a forgery!).
****
Whether or not you can step into the same river twice depends on how you
define the river.
****
Each oscillation of a wave is just as "real" as the first - no question
of copying here.
****
Finally, one can can regard movement as a series of transient copies of
an object displaced incrementally along the time and space axes. This
might fit a physicists description, but when we talk about a moving
object, we are talking about the "real" thing, not copies.
****
Sorry if this muddles things, but otherwise I think this "copy" vs.
"original" discussion is going to be an unproductive distraction.
Jonathan
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