A M u Offering 1
The Tortoise and Achilles have just been to hear a lecture on the origins of
the Genetic Code, and are now drinking some tea at Achilles' home.Achilles: I have something terrible to confess, Mr. T.
Tortoise: What is it, Achilles?
Achilles: Despite the fascinating subject matter of that lecture, I drifted off
to sleep a time or two. But in my drowsy state, I still was semi-aware of
the words coming into my ears. One strange image that floated up
from my lower levels was that 'A' and 'T', instead of standing for
"adenine" and "thymine", stood for my name and yours-and that
double-strands of DNA had tiny copies of me and you along their
backbones, always paired up, just as adenine and thymine always are.
Isn't that a strange symbolic image?
Tortoise: Phooey! Who believes in that silly kind of stuff? Anyway, what
about 'C' and 'G'?
Achilles: Well, I suppose 'C' could stand for Mr. Crab, instead of for
cytosine. I'm not sure about 'G', but I'm sure one could think of
something. Anyway, it was amusing to imagine my DNA being filled
with minuscule copies of you-as well as tiny copies of myself, for that
matter. Just think of the infinite regress THAT leads to!
Tortoise: I can see you were not paying too much attention to the lecture.
Achilles: No, you're wrong. I was doing my best, only I had a hard time
keeping fancy separated from fact. After all, it is such a strange
netherworld that those molecular biologists are exploring.
Tortoise: How do you mean?
Achilles: Molecular biology is filled with peculiar convoluted loops which I
can't quite understand, such as the way that folded proteins, which are
coded fo!' in DNA, can loop back and manipulate the DNA which they
came from, possibly even destroying it. Such strange loops always
confuse the daylights out of me. They're eerie, in a way.
Tortoise: I find them quite appealing.
Achilles: You would, of course-they're just down your alley. But as for
me, sometimes I like to retreat from all this analytic thought and just
meditate a little, as an antidote. It clears my mind of all those confusing
loops and incredible complexities which we were hearing about to-
night.
Tortoise: Fancy that. I wouldn't have guessed that you were a meditator.
Achilles: Did I never tell you that I am studying Zen Buddhism?
Tortoise: Heavens, how did you come upon that?
Achilles: I have always had a yen for the yin and yang, you know--theA Mu Offering 231