Hello,

 

How soon, if ever, do you believe we'll be able to predictively model an entire organism using a computer? I think it will be soon.

 

I'm a layman interested in the subject, and I have a Google Groups page devoted to general interest literature related to Biomodeling, check it out if you have a chance: http://groups.google.com/group/bebobio?hl=en

 

Why should we be interested in Biomodeling? The life sciences move too slowly, in vivo research is too inefficient, the data is too complex to understand using human intuition alone IMHO.

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts......

 

Off Topic - Arthur C. Clarke "sic transit gloria mundi" - Thus passes the glory of this world.

It's being done already: http://www.voodish.co.uk/articles/mouse-brain-simulated-on-computer/

Essentially that is all what systems biology is trying to achieve. However it won't be faster than traditional wetlab work because modeling is dependent on good data: garbage in garbage out.

At the moment most believe that it will take at least 50 years to get the complete metabolism of a single cell seriously modeled.

Thank you both for your replies. I think that those working to model a mouse brain are at the forefront of a movement that will revolutionize the life sciences. I realize that the optimistic consensus for a computationally tractable, predictive model is 50 years, but I believe that it will happen sooner.

 

Check out the Center for Cell Dynamics http://www.celldynamics.org/celldynamics/index.html

 

I have some other links and relevant files on my Google groups page ( http://groups.google.com/group/bebobio?lnk=gschg&hl=en ).

 

I do not doubt the awesome power of modern mol-bio. What I do doubt is the ability of humans to make sense of the data. The computer is an excellent (even if not perfect) tool that is under-utilized in biology.

 

Have you read "The City and the Stars"? An off-topic question, but I wonder, how influential is fiction in forging our dreams? Thanks again, Randy