Bauernbergpark Man III

This is a rather fascinating week for me. However, during a workshop at the Ars Electronica Future Lab I found the time to walk the dog.
I also found the Man, sitting in front of my suicidal friend's former apartment. He asked me for some cash.
He was very polite and he was using very formal German language-
I gave him 6 Euros and looked him into the eyes for the very first time. What I saw was kindness. What a contrast to the encounter a few days ago!
The weather is getting rather wet. Hope he's sleeping well on the floor of the pavilion.

Bauernbergpark Man Attack

Although the Man is mostly peaceful, he frequently has some sort of nervous attacks. Then he swears aloud or he calls for the police.
Three days ago I passed him when he came back from his Hofer market duties. He was having one of his fits. However, he stopped swearing when he saw me and walked past me silently.
SUDDENLY he turned around and told my dog that he is a good boy in a very aggressive manner.
I kept on walking, and the Man turned too and went after his lunatic business.
That is the other side of the Bauernbergpark Man, a side that undoubtedly gives him constant troubles. To me and to the dog it was just 10 seconds of fear. For him it means a life on park benches.

Ed Regis What is life? (german)

Ed Regis

What is Life? Investigating the Nature of Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology

2008

Oxford University Press

Link zu Amazon

Das Buch liefert eine spannende Reise durch die Geschichte des Lebensbegriffes und die modernen Herausforderungen an diesen, wie Synthetische Biologie, Protozellenforschung und die Suche nach extraterrestrischem Leben.

Die Geschichte beginnt mit den Protagonisten der Protozellenforschung, des sogenannten „bottom-up“ Zugangs zur Erschaffung künstlichen Lebens, bzw. einer künstlichen Zelle wie etwa Norman Packard und Steen Rasmussen.

Es folgt ein Rückblick auf Erwin Schrödingers Standardwerk: What is life? aus dem Jahr 1944, das zum einen den Mythos des Lebens aus physikalischem Blickwinkel entzauberte, andererseits aber viel Fragen offen ließ. Im Zentrum des Werkes Schrödingers steht der Begriff der Negentropie, oder negativen Entropie, der Lebewesen, was nichts anderes Bedeutet als Ordnung.

Regis erzählt nun die Geschichte der Entdeckung der DNA, die bis ins Jahr 1869 reicht, als sie von Friedrich Miescher aus dem Eiter von Wundverbänden aus dem Krankenhaus isoliert wurde. 1953 publizierten Watson und Crick ihre Entdeckung der Struktur der DNA. Der genetische Code wurde im laufe der 60er Jahre von Marshall Nirenberg entschlüsselt.

Das Buch handelt nun weiter von einem Kongress 1993 in Dublin mit dem Titel: „What Is Life: The Next 50 Years“ der Erwin Schrödinger würdigte, aber mit den meisten seiner Erkenntnisse abrechnete.

Als nächstes wird die Wichtigkeit von ATP für Lebensprozesse verdeutlicht und als wesentliches Merkmal von Leben der Metabolismus herausgearbeitet.

Dann geht es um die Ursprünge des Lebens. Die Theorie, die hier am plausibelsten erscheint ist jene von Freeman Dyson, die einen doppelten Ursprung von Metabolismus und Reproduktion postuliert.

Im nächsten Kapitel wird der Stand der Evolutionstheorie skizziert, indem Theodosius Dobzhanskys Aussage: „Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution“ als falsch hingestellt wird.

Dann spannt sich der Bogen zurück zu den Protozellen-Forschern und es werden deren letzte Fortschritte aufsummiert. Es wird jedoch klar gestellt, dass es noch nicht gelungen ist eine künstliche Zelle zu synthetisieren, obwohl schon interessante Entwicklungen in diese Richtung gemacht worden sind.

Am Ende wird die Frage „Was ist Leben?“ damit beantwortet, dass es sich bei Leben um einen in einem Körper enthaltenen Metabolismus (embodied metabolism) handelt.

Lieblingszitat: Carl Sagan wrote that „despite the enormous fund of information that [biologists] have provided, it is a remarkable fact that no general agreement exists on what it is that is being studied. There is no generally accepted definition of life.“ p.156

Origins

Where does life come from? A very original question.
If someone created it: the question remains: How did the creator do it? If someone brought it along through space, how did it emerge where it came from?
Although the answers given by Freeman Dyson seem to be the best ones so far, combining the origin of  heredity/replication with the origin of metabolism, the quest for the origin of life seems endless.
So lets look for some interesting creation Myths. In my rather cheap edition of a mythology book creation is the first chapter after the introduction. How original again.
If you take a closer look at the myths, it seems that they focus on different aspects of the origin of what we consider to be the universe.
For a start let us discuss the Egyptian myth of Nun. What is the difference between the primal soup and the primal sea? What is the difference between Maat and Miller? Both intended to create order from chaos.
Unfortunately there is a documentary on ORF III tonight, that I cannot miss. It is on a completely different topic, but I promise to continue to discuss matters of the origin of life in this blog.
By the way, today the Bauernbergpark Man asked someone for a cigarette close to where I live. For him, I think, the universe is created anew every day.

Archy good Archy nice

I have just rewritten my short prose on a guy doing something nasty to a church in Linz. So I am  productive. The problem with short prose is that you need a lot of small nice ideas to have enough material one day. I have four short stories so far. That is nothing.
I think the next one will be about trying to steal a bottle from the Bauernbergpark Man. He is the star of my Blog, so he will be the only real character in my short prose collection. Ha.
Maybe I even manage to write a poem today. For some reason I am having a good time, although my beloved one is very far away from me. Wait a moment. That's it. My sadness and loneliness gives me the kick on the dark side of the moon to be productive.
On the other hand it could also be the lime ice cream with blueberries I have consumed just a few minutes ago.
Yes drugs and loneliness. That feels good. Makes me feel young again.
So: What is left to do for today: Write a poem, write some short prose, make some plans for publishing some of the stuff, walk the dog, sleep. Ha
I'll do that. No time for stupid blogging any more.
Cu

Waunfawr

2 weeks in Wales are not enough. From Snowdonia ale to windy beaches everything was fine. I didn't even miss the Bauernbergpark and the Man although when I came back I first made sure that he is still around.
His latest drawings on the ground are rather interesting by the way. They look somewhat like this: <O> with all his cigarette butts in the middle.
Hmm. He sure has some troubles with the thunderstorms recently.
I wish my posts get more coherent again but I can't think of anything more interesting when I listen to David Bowie music.
My little finger hurts from typing.
I have to stop.
Sorry.
:-)

Coward

I have just deleted an interesting post that would have probably cost my job.
I will post it later, one day, hopefully.
Curious, eh?
Harr.