Sydney Brenner
So it's this worm that was chosen by this guy, Sydney Brenner, who just died. And it's a shame because he would have been a great podcast guest, just, like, one of the most brilliant biologists that we didn't focus on. And he said, "You know what, we're missing a species that we can completely describe. Soup to Nuts. Here's the one that's about the simplest thing with a brain. It's only got 1000 cells. And 300 of those cells make up a very primitive neural system. And we're going to track where every goddamn cellâ", like, bring upâJamie, if I could ask you, sir, to bring up the cell lineage diagram for C. elegans. This will be the first of two images. Well, that is a complete map of how one fertilized egg becomes a tiny microscopic worm for every possible division.
Right now, here's the thing. Everyone in biology knows how cool this thing is. And very few people, not enough people outside of biology, know that we have completely mapped how one cellâlike if you're 30 trillion cells around. It's too big to write a diagram. It's only possible because they're only 1000 cells. And this thing has locomotion. It has sexual reproduction. You know, it eats. So, you're looking at the architectural plans for an actual organism.
-Eric Weinstein on JRE #1320 @ 1 hr 29 min
1st: Fly over C.Elegans (!!) http://bit.ly/ElegFO
2nd: Think about 1000 cell lineage.
3rd: Buy mug http://bit.ly/WormMG
4th: Merry Xmas!
Tweet explanation request for @yaserhelmy. Everyone needs to know C Elegans, not just biologists. About 1000 cells / 300 neurons.
The worm leaves no room for a benevolent diety working in mysterious ways. This nematode is complex life, mapped & completely open source.
For any G-d talking to us, this may be the most reliable thing ever said or sent to man. An open source invitation to knowing. A Bible.
We not only know the cell lineages but the adjacency matrix of the worm's brain. We can't possibly "teach a controversy" that we don't have.
So be gracious to all G-d's children. Gift Xmas worm mugs. Marvel at selection, thank Sydney Brenner & be of good cheer. It's a nontroversy.
So long and thanks for all the worms.
RIP to the towering figure of Sydney Brenner. If you donât believe in the great man theory of science itâs no biggfie. But for the rest of us, he was VAL in the RNA tie club. One of the only living scientists I was determined to meet.
Damn.
Got to geek out on the death of Sydney Brenner.
This is one of my favorite documents. A letter from Gamow to Crick about Richard Feynman & Edward Teller contemplating homoerotic (see drawing) overlapping codon models of the as yet unknown genetic code. Brenner debunked all such! https://t.co/Tf2U3CmefC
What a world. How exciting Science was. Can you imagine a world in which such big questions were comparatively elementary and wide open? Huge minds were so boldly imaginative. Playing. Like kids. Feynman/Gamow/Teller/Crick/Rich/Brenner.đź
And just a few decades ago.
Yesterday.
Weâve had many recent stunning reversals that all have the same exact pattern. The mainstream says when the obvious may be acknowledged.
A) Time mag. says: There Was a conspiracy against Trump in the Election.
B) The Lab is Likely the Covid Origin.
C) You can enjoy Outdoors.
I could have been massless outdoors long ago. I knew the Lab was never a racist wildeyed idea. And I knew tech was conspiring against even anti-Trump accounts that were off-narrative.
They did the same on masks. And on flu worse than âno big dealâ COVID. The exact same pattern.
Okay. Where is the story: âa lot of people we call crazy got everything right before we didâŠbut we get to determine who is allowed to think and speak using platforms.â
The platforms are punishing everyone who doesnât wait for the signal. Mostly conservative refuse to wait.
Itâs like an intellectual fire drill where we all get marched out of the building of sane rational thought while lunatic firemen search for the fire that isnât there.
Jon Stewart is a narrative fire Marshall. âYou canât be sane just yet..Okay..Now itâs safe to use your mind.â
This is what conservatives and disaffected liberals have in common. We donât wait to use our mind because the New York Times or NPR isnât sure what will happen if we think for ourselves.
Ariana Grande is a Fire Marshall. When she dances w no mask, we all can. Thx @ArianaGrande!
I think this is the common cause I feel with Conservatives most. I hate outsourcing my brain in my one beautiful life to people appointed to control when it is safe to think. I donât want intellectual fire Marshallâs unless D-day is next week and we canât afford a misstep.
Ariana Grande is pretty. And she can sing. But she ainât Francis Crick or Sydney Brenner, and they would *never* ask me to stop thinking until Ariana and Jon Stewart give the all clear.
This is why smart people hate this fire Marshall system. Itâs going to happen again. End it.