While answering how much information is in DNA may seem straightforward, it actually requires a wild odyssey through information theory and molecular biology.
Yeah, I totally agree with this point! DNA is definitely not sufficient to build an organism. Originally, I thought there was definitely a large (albeit hard to quantify) amount of information embodied in the cells. Though there’s been some debate on that point about how large that really is. For example, if I provided a single photograph of an adult human and—I don’t know—gave the typical fraction of different atoms in a human body, would a sufficiently intelligent alien race reverse engineer how to make a zygote?
In any case, my (annoying) answer to this challenge is to retreat: I don’t technically have to solve this problem because I’m not trying to estimate the amount of information in a cell, just the information in DNA.
Yeah, I totally agree with this point! DNA is definitely not sufficient to build an organism. Originally, I thought there was definitely a large (albeit hard to quantify) amount of information embodied in the cells. Though there’s been some debate on that point about how large that really is. For example, if I provided a single photograph of an adult human and—I don’t know—gave the typical fraction of different atoms in a human body, would a sufficiently intelligent alien race reverse engineer how to make a zygote?
In any case, my (annoying) answer to this challenge is to retreat: I don’t technically have to solve this problem because I’m not trying to estimate the amount of information in a cell, just the information in DNA.