The answer depends on what you define as the goal for living organisms. If the goal is "stay alive", they are remarkably reliable at that. If the goal is "stay themselves", then they are somewhat less reliable because of natural variability (e.g., mutations, sexual reproduction). If the goal is even more precise (like, the goal of my mouth would be producing articulate sounds), then life is quite unreliable indeed, especially when compared with modern computers.
This makes me think that by setting more and more precise goals we seem to be trying to fit life into the formal, modular, mathematised way of seeing the world.
The answer depends on what you define as the goal for living organisms. If the goal is "stay alive", they are remarkably reliable at that. If the goal is "stay themselves", then they are somewhat less reliable because of natural variability (e.g., mutations, sexual reproduction). If the goal is even more precise (like, the goal of my mouth would be producing articulate sounds), then life is quite unreliable indeed, especially when compared with modern computers.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think that by setting more and more precise goals we seem to be trying to fit life into the formal, modular, mathematised way of seeing the world.