I am reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley for the book club meeting tomorrow. Apparently, the book, written in the first half of the 19th century pioneered the genre of science fiction and I am sure I will have more to say tomorrow after the book club meeting as many of our members are science fiction afficionados. I aways thought of myself as being averse to science fiction but the discipline of a book club has pushed me to broaden my horizons.
The book is remarkably ahead of its times as far as its insights on the philosophy of science are concerned.It deals with one of the fundamental puzzles of the physical sciences--what gives life? This is not my area of research and clueless about the contemporary thinking on this matter. All I know is matter is made up of organic and inorganic materials (elements or compounds). Organic compounds are hydrocarbons and all living things are made up of these. But, what animates these compounds or what animates the cells that makes up these compounds? Is the animation a spontaneous chemical reaction that occurs when the write elements are brought together in the right combinations under the right conditions? Are we nothing but a gazillion chemical reactions? And in that case, is it possible to create life by bringing the right compounds together under the right conditions? Not just grow cells, but make new cells? Where does cellular DNA come into it?
The book is remarkably ahead of its times as far as its insights on the philosophy of science are concerned.It deals with one of the fundamental puzzles of the physical sciences--what gives life? This is not my area of research and clueless about the contemporary thinking on this matter. All I know is matter is made up of organic and inorganic materials (elements or compounds). Organic compounds are hydrocarbons and all living things are made up of these. But, what animates these compounds or what animates the cells that makes up these compounds? Is the animation a spontaneous chemical reaction that occurs when the write elements are brought together in the right combinations under the right conditions? Are we nothing but a gazillion chemical reactions? And in that case, is it possible to create life by bringing the right compounds together under the right conditions? Not just grow cells, but make new cells? Where does cellular DNA come into it?
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