"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

Meanwhile the discussions got tougher and tougher.

тАЬI donтАЩt know what she could have been thinking with this one, itтАЩs absurd!тАЭ

тАЬLet me start by suggesting limited discussion.тАЭ

Frank began subtly to apply the brakes. He didnтАЩt want them to think he was a bad panel manager.

Nevertheless, the attack mood gained momentum. Baboons descending on wounded prey; it was almost
Pavlovian, a food-rewarded joy in destruction that did not bode well for the species. The pleasure taken
in wrecking anything meticulous. Frank had seen it many times: a carpenter doing demolition with a
sledgehammer, a vet who went duck-hunting on weekendsтАжIt was unfortunate, given their current
overextended moment in planetary history, but nevertheless real. As a species they were therefore
probably doomed. And so the only real adaptive strategy, for the individual, was to do oneтАЩs best to
secure oneтАЩs own position. And sometimes that meant a little strategic defection.
Near the end of the day it was ThorntonтАЩs turn again. Finally they had come to the proposal from Yann
Pierzinski. People were getting tired.

Frank said, тАЬOkay, almost done here. LetтАЩs finish them off, shall we? Two more to go. Stu, weтАЩre to you
again, on тАШMathematical and Algorithmic Analysis of Palindromic Codons as Predictors of a GeneтАЩs
Protein Expression.тАЩ Mandel and Pierzinski, Caltech.тАЭ

Thornton shook his head wearily. тАЬI see itтАЩs got a couple of тАШVery GoodsтАЩ from people, but I give it a
тАШFair.тАЩ ItтАЩs a nice thought, but it seems to be promising too much. I mean, predicting the proteome from
the genome would be enough in itself, but then understanding how the genome evolved, building
error-tolerant biocomputersтАФitтАЩs like a list of the big unsolved problems.тАЭ

Francesca Taolini asked him what he thought of the algorithm that the proposal hoped to develop.

тАЬItтАЩs too sketchy to be sure! ThatтАЩs really what heтАЩs hoping to find, as far as I can tell. There would be a
final toolbox with a software environment and language, then a gene grammar to make sense of
palindromes in particular, he seems to think those are important, but I think theyтАЩre just redundancy and
repair sequences, thatтАЩs why the palindromic structure. TheyтАЩre like the reinforcement at the bottom of a
zipper. To think that he could use this to predict all the proteins that a particular gene would produce!тАЭ

тАЬBut if you could, you would see what proteins you would get without needing to do microassays and
use crystallography to see what came up,тАЭ Francesca pointed out. тАЬThat would be very useful. I thought
the line he was following had potential, myself. I know people working on something like this, and it
would be good to have more people on it, itтАЩs a broad front. ThatтАЩs why I gave it a тАШVery Good,тАЩ and IтАЩd
still recommend we fund it.тАЭ She kept her eyes on her screen.

тАЬWell yeah,тАЭ Thornton said crossly, тАЬbut where would he get the biosensors that would tell him if he was
right or not? ThereтАЩs no controls.тАЭ

тАЬThat would be someone elseтАЩs problem. If the predictions were turning out good you wouldnтАЩt have to
test all of them, that would be the point.тАЭ

Frank waited a beat. тАЬAnyone else?тАЭ he said in a neutral tone.