Dachannien t1_jbozrot wrote on March 10, 2023 at 4:52 PM Reply to comment by dave-the-scientist in I just learned that the known shortest DNA in an “organism” is about 1700 base pairs in a certain virus. Is there a minimum amount of “code” required for an organism (or virus) to function in any capacity? by mcbergstedt For that matter, what about a prion? Does nothing when not in the presence of similar amino acid chains that are in a vulnerable conformation, but makes more of itself when those resources are available. Then again, prions don't breathe and eat and grow, and that is how we know they're not alive. Permalink Parent 8
Dachannien t1_j76ljml wrote on February 4, 2023 at 1:56 PM Reply to comment by purepersistence in Possible first look at GPT-4 by tk854 When it starts answering that question with Jesus, that's when I'm out. Permalink Parent 3
Dachannien t1_jbozrot wrote
Reply to comment by dave-the-scientist in I just learned that the known shortest DNA in an “organism” is about 1700 base pairs in a certain virus. Is there a minimum amount of “code” required for an organism (or virus) to function in any capacity? by mcbergstedt
For that matter, what about a prion? Does nothing when not in the presence of similar amino acid chains that are in a vulnerable conformation, but makes more of itself when those resources are available.
Then again, prions don't breathe and eat and grow, and that is how we know they're not alive.