Blaise: biology has been doing computer science for four billion years
blaiseaguera · x · 2026-10-20
Blaise Aguera y Arcas argues that biology has been doing computer science for four billion years:
- Before DNA was discovered, Turing and von Neumann worked out the logic of self-replicating machines: matter folds into a system that reads and executes instructions to build itself
- Evolution scales this computation through symbiogenesis: free-swimming bacteria merged to power our cells as mitochondria, and ancient viral genes now help form our memories
This is a middle segment of his argument connecting the origin of life to the rise of intelligence.
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