i have been focusing a lot on my physical fitness lately: pickleball, soccer, hikes, the gym multiple times a week, etc. this led me to reflect on how inherently mechanistic our bodies truly are.
after taking years of chemistry and biology, i find it fascinating how much math and logic are being used to predict seemingly natural things in the world. every cell in our body has a dna code, reactions between molecules can be calculated, and surgeries can replace organs, swapping them out like robotic parts.
we have gotten so much better at understanding the human body, curing diseases, and prolonging our lifespan overall. however, i feel like there is so much more that can be discovered here.
with all these medical advancements, it is still difficult for individuals to get insight into how their body is performing and where it needs improvement. pro athletes get their blood work done regularly to make sure they hit all their benchmarks. i know such things exist for the general public, but they involve so much time and money.
i wonder if there is a better way. i am interested in biology research that uses computation to find unconventional solutions. if we can get a fly's brain onto a computer, what is stopping us from editing basically any part of our biology?
while i am interested, this new field scares me. it makes me question what it really means to be living. can a computer be as living as a human? or as a fly? if you can replicate every part of someone by duplicating their brain on a computer, mapping every neuron perfectly, who is the real person anymore?
i want to broaden my understanding of this. let's see where it takes me.