The mismeasure of machine: synthetic biology and the trouble with engineering metaphors Universiteit Gent
The scientific study of living organisms is permeated by machine and design metaphors. Genes are thought of as the U+201CblueprintU+201D of an organism, organisms are U+201Creverse engineeredU+201D to discover their functionality, and living cells are compared to biochemical factories, complete with assembly lines, transport systems, messenger circuits, etc. Although the notion of design is indispensable to think about adaptations, and ...