4 comments

  • Almured 2 hours ago
    What I find fascinating is the extreme efficiency of what is effectively an electric motor, reaching nearly 100% efficiency. At human scale we struggle with heat dissipation and friction
    • ssivark 27 minutes ago
      But at the same time the motor is extremely finicky/fragile in the source of energy (negentropy) it will accept, while natural life is extremely hardy and adaptable.

      I wonder how much of machine-like "efficiency" is actually "overfitting" at the cost of robustness.

      • Almured 6 minutes ago
        That is a fair point to be honest! I guess when you a 20min lifetime you can probably compromise on reliability in favour of extra efficiency
  • abhikul0 1 hour ago
    Relevant Smarter Every Day video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPSm9gJkPxU
  • pazimzadeh 1 hour ago
    at the scale that it operates, the flagella is more a drill than a propeller

    there's a good richard feynam video about how things feel when they're that small https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eRCygdW--c

  • zimpenfish 1 hour ago
    For some context, a billion years at a 20 minute breeding cycle is 26.3 trillion generations.
    • ur-whale 9 minutes ago
      > For some context, a billion years at a 20 minute breeding cycle is 26.3 trillion generations.

      Which if you want an actual feel for the true scale of things, must be multiplied by (order of magnitude) the number of bacteriums on the planet.