Comments on: Industrial Biology http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/2010/02/industrial-biology/ Exploring evolution through genes, computers and music Sun, 04 Sep 2011 19:17:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Lucas http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/2010/02/industrial-biology/comment-page-1/#comment-243 Lucas Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:19:10 +0000 http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/?p=617#comment-243 Well, I guess the amazing thing is that they never sleep ;). For me, the memory that is triggered by the first poster is that of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIjZgg1lLg8" rel="nofollow">"Once upon a time... Life"</a>. It's a French production and a really great animated TV series I used to watch. There's factory workers everywhere, keeping the body running. It's really detailed, considering children were the target audience! Well, I guess the amazing thing is that they never sleep ;).
For me, the memory that is triggered by the first poster is that of “Once upon a time… Life”. It’s a French production and a really great animated TV series I used to watch. There’s factory workers everywhere, keeping the body running. It’s really detailed, considering children were the target audience!

]]> By: Lab Rat http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/2010/02/industrial-biology/comment-page-1/#comment-242 Lab Rat Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:19:02 +0000 http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/?p=617#comment-242 I love the first picture. It reminds me of a picture in this kids encyclopaedia I used to have, which (slightly less artistically) showed the human body as a machine run by little blobby people, carrying out all the tasks of sorting the food for the digestive system and sending it off to different parts of the body. I used to wonder when they got any sleep! I love the first picture. It reminds me of a picture in this kids encyclopaedia I used to have, which (slightly less artistically) showed the human body as a machine run by little blobby people, carrying out all the tasks of sorting the food for the digestive system and sending it off to different parts of the body. I used to wonder when they got any sleep!

]]> By: Lucas http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/2010/02/industrial-biology/comment-page-1/#comment-234 Lucas Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:13:15 +0000 http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/?p=617#comment-234 Thanks for the comment Christina! I completely agree with you. It's fascinating when abstract concepts from biology and technology fit together so well. Also, there's this interesting tension lying in analogies like these, because they can be limiting if taken to seriously, but they also often inspire to look or apply things one normally wouldn't (I'm anxious to see how far the electronic circuitry analogy in synthetic biology will take us for example!). I was planning to write on scientific analogies in general, but then I found your excellent post and decided to link to it instead :). Plus, Kahn's pictures are so beautiful that they deserved a post of their own anyways. Maybe also interesting: a German artist animated the poster, and brought the industrial palace to life. You can find it <a href ="http://vimeo.com/6505158" rel="nofollow">here</a>! Thanks for the comment Christina!

I completely agree with you. It’s fascinating when abstract concepts from biology and technology fit together so well. Also, there’s this interesting tension lying in analogies like these, because they can be limiting if taken to seriously, but they also often inspire to look or apply things one normally wouldn’t (I’m anxious to see how far the electronic circuitry analogy in synthetic biology will take us for example!).

I was planning to write on scientific analogies in general, but then I found your excellent post and decided to link to it instead :). Plus, Kahn’s pictures are so beautiful that they deserved a post of their own anyways. Maybe also interesting: a German artist animated the poster, and brought the industrial palace to life. You can find it here!

]]> By: Christina http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/2010/02/industrial-biology/comment-page-1/#comment-233 Christina Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:12:52 +0000 http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/?p=617#comment-233 These are fabulous, thanks for posting them! I've never heard of Kahn before, his work seems really interesting. I'm fascinated by how technology and our understanding of biological systems feed back on each other in different time periods. Whether it's about industrial factories or computer systems, we naturalize technology by comparing it to biology and at the same time simplify biological systems to manageable analogies to things we build, use, and understand. Every time period has so much going on in terms of this kind of concurrent technological and scientific development, and all of it has an impact on how we construct our understanding of living things for synthetic biology today. Maybe that came out kind of jumbled but hopefully you get the idea :) Anyway I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog! These are fabulous, thanks for posting them! I’ve never heard of Kahn before, his work seems really interesting. I’m fascinated by how technology and our understanding of biological systems feed back on each other in different time periods. Whether it’s about industrial factories or computer systems, we naturalize technology by comparing it to biology and at the same time simplify biological systems to manageable analogies to things we build, use, and understand. Every time period has so much going on in terms of this kind of concurrent technological and scientific development, and all of it has an impact on how we construct our understanding of living things for synthetic biology today. Maybe that came out kind of jumbled but hopefully you get the idea :) Anyway I’m looking forward to reading more of your blog!

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