Re: Quantum Physics, Measurements and Robert's Functional Dynamics Concept

[Ionel <***>]

Hope, this is not a re-posting; my previous response seems to have vanished
in the electronic web vacuum.

Hi, Judith:

There were two papers published in BMB by Robert in the early 50's, such as
~ 1954 before he introduced his (M,R)-systems. I remember reading them in
1967 and --with one of my colleagues, P.M. - literally 'stunning' our
biophysics 15-strong graduate students group in our seminar on molecular
genetics by reviewing the main points, the approach and conclusions Robert
has reached in his Quantum Genetics!

His Quantum Genetics papers were based explicitely on von Neumann's
formalism, and Robert's conclusions--as published at that time-- were that
the 'central dogma of molecular biology is not/cannot be valid', based on
his quantum genetics approach in the published papers. These are the facts
as published by Robert.

It' s quite possible that his (M,R)-systems were discovered as a result of
his previous work and the conclusions Robert reached on Quantum Genetics.

On a different line of thinking: did Robert ever refer to David Bohm 'whole
universe quantum theory concept' anywhere, or even simply mention Bohm's
approach to Quantum Theory?

With best regards,

Ionel


On Fri, 28 May 2004 22:32:05 -0400, Judith Rosen
<***> wrote:

>> Ionel wrote:
>> This may, thus suggest that complexity, even in Robert's sense, does
>> originate at the quantum, microscopic level in biological organisms, as
he
>> was pondering on this question back in 1956, in his Quantum Genetics
>> article published in BMB.
>>
>
>I don't think so, Ionel. The results of his "pondering" didn't leave him
>with any illusions that Quantum Theory would be useful in his quest.
>
>My father initially had hopes that Quantum thoery might herald fundamental
>changes for physics, but, after some intensive analysis of what was being
>developed, he came away disappointed. He said, very much as Tim pointed out
>in his post, that Quantum theory kept the original premises that were
>already at the root of physics and merely added to them, changing only the
>outer edges. The state-based reality as depicted in Quantum theory, he
said,
>is not going to explain "life" as a property of living systems. Since
>finding the scientific explanation for "life" was the initial/continual
>driving force behind everything he achieved during his career, and remained
>his main focus and his passion; once he realized Quantum theory would not
>advance his purpose any further, he walked away. Whatever else the tool,
>represented by Quantum theory, was good for scientifically, it was as
>useless to him as gardening paraphernalia in a leaky boat.
>
>Judith