Jerry, list, My response to Jerrys comments follows:
> List, Sung: > > > On Nov 2, 2014, at 7:54 PM, Sungchul Ji wrote: > >> (2) All processes require dissipating free energy (or energy more >> briefly). There are two kinds of organizations (a) random organization (e.g., Gaussian distributed word-length frequencies in German or English >> dictionaries; gene-length frequency distributions in genomes), and (b) >> non-random organization (e.g., the word-length frequency distribution in >> a speech, Figure 1h attached; annual income distributions in the US, >> Figures 1i and 1j). >> > > In my opinion, this argument is meaningless because it fails to > distinguish between the source of where the energy was dissipated and the > location where the energy was converted into another form. This is of > fundamental importance in biology. The meaning of any statements depends on the readers background and frame of mind. What is meaningless to one many not be so for others. I hope this is the case here. In a short post such as this, it is not possible to describe everything and must omit details which average readers are assumed to be able to provide themselves. > For example, the sun dissipates energy as light / photons. This is not a good example of "dissipation of energy" but a case of converting matter to energy via E = mc^2. What is dissipated here is a part of the matter-energy as heat. In other words, light/photons are not dissipated energy but free energy, just as ATP in the cell is, which produces heat upon performing work using its free energy. > > A photosynthetic cell captures the light and uses it for constructing new > cellular components, it gains free energy. Agreed. > > In the physical level of description, both processes can be described as > random or statistical processes. Photosynthesis not a random process but directed and non-random, although the enzymes catalyzing photosynthesis do undergo Brownian motions before they can perform their synthetic activity utilizing the free energy of light/photons. I have published several papers beginning in the 1970s proposing one possible molecular mechanism, based on the generalized Franck-Condon principle [1], by which enzymes may perform work utilizing ATP energy wherein Brownian motions play essential roles [2, 3,4]. > At the biological level, the initial conditions are such that the cell > utilizes the energy for growth and reproduction. > > This line of argumentation about free energy is neither compelling nor > pragmatically useful, in my opinion, because the dicisigns originate in > two different systems, separated in cosmic space. The meaning of > thermodynamic changes become propositionally meaningful if and only if > they are co-located in the same system. The meaning of these paragraphs are not clear to me. With all the best. Sung ___________________________________________________ Sungchul Ji, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy Rutgers University Piscataway, N.J. 08855 732-445-4701 www.conformon.net References: [1] Ji, S. (2012). The Franck-Condon Principle (FCP). In:Molecular Theory of the Living Cell: Concepts, Molecular Mechanisms, and Biomedical Applications. Springer, New York. pp. 18-24. PDF at conformon.net under Publications > Book chapters. [2] Ji, S. (1974). Energy and Negentropy in Enzymic Catalysis, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 227, 419-437. [3] Ji, S. (1974). A General Theory of ATP Synthesis and Utilization, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 227, 211-226. [4] Ji, S. (2000). Free energy and Information Contents of Conformons in proteins and DNA, BioSystems 54, 107-130. > List, Sung: > > > On Nov 2, 2014, at 7:54 PM, Sungchul Ji wrote: > >> (2) All processes require dissipating free energy (or energy more >> briefly). >> There are two kinds of organizations (a) random organization (e.g., >> Gaussian distributed word-length frequencies in German or English >> dictionaries; gene-length frequency distributions in genomes), and (b) >> non-random organization (e.g., the word-length frequency distribution in >> a >> speech, Figure 1h attached; annual income distributions in the US, >> Figures >> 1i and 1j). >> > > In my opinion, this argument is meaningless because it fails to > distinguish between the source of where the energy was dissipated and the > location where the energy was converted into another form. This is of > fundamental importance in biology. > > For example, the sun dissipates energy as light / photons. > > A photosynthetic cell captures the light and uses it for constructing new > cellular components, it gains free energy. > > In the physical level of description, both processes can be described as > random or statistical processes. > > At the biological level, the initial conditions are such that the cell > utilizes the energy for growth and reproduction. > > This line of argumentation about free energy is neither compelling nor > pragmatically useful, in my opinion, because the dicisigns originate in > two different systems, separated in cosmic space. The meaning of > thermodynamic changes become propositionally meaningful if and only if > they are co-located in the same system. > > Cheers > > Jerry > >
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