From: Stirling Westrup (sti@cam.org)
Date: Wed Feb 09 2000 - 15:44:00 MST
Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
> On Sun, 6 Feb 2000, Damien Broderick wrote:
> [Snip the rest because it really goes off the deep end!!!]
>
> I'll just point out for the education of all that the
> molecules that cause most DNA mutations (hydrogen peroxide, the
> superoxide ion, singlet oxygen, perhaps in association with
> Fe/Cu ions, and certain larger toxins (e.g. aflotoxin)) are
> all "atoms" or "molecules" (and *not* fundamental particles
> like electrons or protons). Atoms or molecules are *large*
> compared to quantum effects (spin states, electron energy
> states, etc.) and cannot be affected by quantum scale
> activities unless you do something like cool the atoms
> almost to absolute zero generating things like a Bose-Einstein
> condensate. At the level of the cell, the motion and location
> of atoms & molecules is driven by Brownian motion, e.g. heat,
> *not* quantum effects.
> Gobbeldygook, blech, phooey!
As a friend of mine so succinctly put it. There seems to be a meme in certain
circles that says "I don't really understand how X works, but I think I'm
pretty smart. Therefore, it must involve quantum mechanics, which no one
understands."
We see this meme working in just about every field of scientific endeavour
except quantum mechanics.
--
Stirling Westrup | Use of the Internet by this poster
sti@cam.org | is not to be construed as a tacit
| endorsement of Western Technological
| Civilization or its appurtenances.
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