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Information and Structure in Molecular Biology: Comments on Maynard Smith

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

John A. Winnie
John A. Winnie*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Montana
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Abstract

In a recent essay in this journal, John Maynard Smith (2000) argues that the often expressed idea that the genome is the repository of meaningful information is not merely a heuristically useful metaphor. Instead, he contends, it is a central idea in contemporary microbiology. While I am in general agreement with Maynard Smith on this issue, his account suffers, I believe, from using an inappropriate concept of ‘information.’ One result of this is that the concept of genomic information becomes burdened by a conceptual load that the biological facts cannot support. When, however, the appropriate concept of information is used, then these burdens are shed, and the result is an account that is in substantial agreement with (what I consider to be) the heart of Maynard Smith's thesis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 67 , Issue 3 , September 2000 , pp. 517 - 526
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Send requests for reprints to the author, PO Box 220, Kila, MT 59920–0220.

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