Ambitions for theory in the physics of life
Abstract
Theoretical physicists have been fascinated by the phenomena of life for more than a century. As we engage with more realistic descriptions of living systems, however, things get complicated. After reviewing different reactions to this complexity, I explore the optimization of information flow as a potentially general theoretical principle. The primary example is a genetic network guiding development of the fly embryo, but each idea also is illustrated by examples from neural systems. In each case, optimization makes detailed, largely parameter-free predictions that connect quantitatively with experiment
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2401.15538,
title = {Ambitions for theory in the physics of life},
author = {William Bialek},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.15538},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
Lectures at the 2023 Les Houches Summer School, Theoretical Biophysics. Revisions include some replacement figures with permissions, small clarifications in the text