202
The overall genetics conferring increasing biological integrity as a direct function of time as it relates to the intensive biodiversity that has accumulated with
perfect success at Yasuní, and the tragically hopeless case of lawsuits filed by all but
powerless indigenous people still living there. Their power is undermined precisely
because of their inevitable efforts to lodge their voices in the arena of non- indigenous
white noise, where far greater numbers of consumers vie for that same moment of
power. All of this is metaphorical, and without absolute predictive qualification.
Hence, “About half of the known proteins are amenable to comparative modeling;
that is, an evolutionarily related protein of known structure can be used as a template for modeling the unknown structure. [But] For the remaining proteins, no
satisfactory solution has been found”
20
.
Protein structure prediction is as open to evolutionary traits and categories as any
perceived biological or ethnographic tapestry. “Evolution creates mosaics of traits like
this,” says anthropologist Matt Tocheri at Lakehead University, reacting to news of a
previously unknown “human species” from the Philippines 50,000 years ago: Homo
luzonensis, from the Island of Luzon, and a specific cave known as Callao, where
bones were found
21
. The late American molecular biologist Cyrus Levinthal took the
numbers game associated with protein folding even further in the mathematical realm,
suggesting that the number and surface areas of such genetic turns and twists were all
but infinite in their varietal forms and prospects. That there was—despite a freedom
by incredible orders of magnitude (10
143
)—a curious paradox at work in a place like
the Amazon: a primeval pattern of protein folds adhering to a standard conformation.
With so many possibilities, he argued, it should, theoretically, require whole light
years to randomly arrive at a standard, any standard, in the formation of bonds within
the DNA molecule. Yet, proteins can fold in a nanosecond, without the laborious
recourse to all of their options. This has been cited as the Levinthal Paradox
22
. Clearly,
the resolution to such a mathematically bizarre empiricism says as much about our
perception of numbers and the language we wield to describe and represent them as it
does about the reality of the Amazon, or any ecosystem (Fig. 21.3).
These number discrepancies also mirror the case of the Moravec Paradox (named
by Hans Moravec of the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University). Consider
that the computational (artificial intelligence) prowess needed to logically repre20 “From Summary, “Big-data approaches to protein structure prediction,” Johannes Söding,
Science 20 Jan 2017: Vol. 355, Issue 6322, pp. 248–249, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aal4512
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6322/248, Accessed April 10, 2019
21 See “Evidence of New Human Species Found in Philippines,” by Robert Lee Hotz, The Wall
Street Journal, April 20, 2009; See also, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/04/
new-species-ancient-human-discovered-luzon-philippines-homo-luzonensis/. Accessed April 10,
2019.
22 See Zwanzig R, Szabo A, Bagchi B (1992-01-01). “Levinthal’s paradox”. Proc Natl Acad Sci
USA. 89 (1): 20–22. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.89.1.20. PMC 48166. PMID 1729690. See
also, Levinthal, Cyrus (1969). “How to Fold Graciously”. Mossbauer Spectroscopy in Biological
Systems: Proceedings of a meeting held at Allerton House, Monticello, Illinois: 22–24. Archived
from the original on 2010-10-07. Levinthal, Cyrus (1968). “Are there pathways for protein folding?” (PDF). Journal de Chimie Physique et de Physico-Chimie Biologique. 65: 44–45. Archived
from the original, on 2009-09-02.
21 The Yasuní Effect
The overall genetics conferring increasing biological integrity as a direct function of time as it relates to the intensive biodiversity that has accumulated with
perfect success at Yasuní, and the tragically hopeless case of lawsuits filed by all but
powerless indigenous people still living there. Their power is undermined precisely
because of their inevitable efforts to lodge their voices in the arena of non- indigenous
white noise, where far greater numbers of consumers vie for that same moment of
power. All of this is metaphorical, and without absolute predictive qualification.
Hence, “About half of the known proteins are amenable to comparative modeling;
that is, an evolutionarily related protein of known structure can be used as a template for modeling the unknown structure. [But] For the remaining proteins, no
satisfactory solution has been found”
20
.
Protein structure prediction is as open to evolutionary traits and categories as any
perceived biological or ethnographic tapestry. “Evolution creates mosaics of traits like
this,” says anthropologist Matt Tocheri at Lakehead University, reacting to news of a
previously unknown “human species” from the Philippines 50,000 years ago: Homo
luzonensis, from the Island of Luzon, and a specific cave known as Callao, where
bones were found
21
. The late American molecular biologist Cyrus Levinthal took the
numbers game associated with protein folding even further in the mathematical realm,
suggesting that the number and surface areas of such genetic turns and twists were all
but infinite in their varietal forms and prospects. That there was—despite a freedom
by incredible orders of magnitude (10
143
)—a curious paradox at work in a place like
the Amazon: a primeval pattern of protein folds adhering to a standard conformation.
With so many possibilities, he argued, it should, theoretically, require whole light
years to randomly arrive at a standard, any standard, in the formation of bonds within
the DNA molecule. Yet, proteins can fold in a nanosecond, without the laborious
recourse to all of their options. This has been cited as the Levinthal Paradox
22
. Clearly,
the resolution to such a mathematically bizarre empiricism says as much about our
perception of numbers and the language we wield to describe and represent them as it
does about the reality of the Amazon, or any ecosystem (Fig. 21.3).
These number discrepancies also mirror the case of the Moravec Paradox (named
by Hans Moravec of the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University). Consider
that the computational (artificial intelligence) prowess needed to logically repre20 “From Summary, “Big-data approaches to protein structure prediction,” Johannes Söding,
Science 20 Jan 2017: Vol. 355, Issue 6322, pp. 248–249, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aal4512
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6322/248, Accessed April 10, 2019
21 See “Evidence of New Human Species Found in Philippines,” by Robert Lee Hotz, The Wall
Street Journal, April 20, 2009; See also, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/04/
new-species-ancient-human-discovered-luzon-philippines-homo-luzonensis/. Accessed April 10,
2019.
22 See Zwanzig R, Szabo A, Bagchi B (1992-01-01). “Levinthal’s paradox”. Proc Natl Acad Sci
USA. 89 (1): 20–22. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.89.1.20. PMC 48166. PMID 1729690. See
also, Levinthal, Cyrus (1969). “How to Fold Graciously”. Mossbauer Spectroscopy in Biological
Systems: Proceedings of a meeting held at Allerton House, Monticello, Illinois: 22–24. Archived
from the original on 2010-10-07. Levinthal, Cyrus (1968). “Are there pathways for protein folding?” (PDF). Journal de Chimie Physique et de Physico-Chimie Biologique. 65: 44–45. Archived
from the original, on 2009-09-02.
21 The Yasuní Effect