There is no question, then, that RNA presents a filing system perfectly capable of handling any load of learning and memory which the human being is likely to put upon it—and a billion times more than that quantity, too. Isaac Asimov
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule. It is implicated in various biological roles incoding,decoding,regulation, andexpression ofgenes.DNA and RNA arenucleic acids, and, along withproteins andcarbohydrates, constitute the three majormacromolecules essential for all known forms oflife. Like DNA, RNA is assembled as a chain ofnucleotides, but unlike DNA it is more often found in nature as a single-strand folded unto itself, rather than a paired double-strand. Cellular organisms usemessenger RNA (mRNA) to convey genetic information (using the letters G, A, U, and C to denote the nitrogenous basesguanine,adenine,uracil andcytosine) that directs synthesis of specific proteins. Manyviruses encode their genetic information using an RNAgenome.
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A healthy, mature human being of normal intelligence may have upwards of 20 million RNA molecules [thought to serve as a ‘filing system’ for memory] in each neuron. . . . An RNA molecule made up of merely 25 links could have any one of a million billion different combinations, . . . In fact, every RNA molecule contains many hundreds of units—not merely 25.
Isaac Asimov,The New York Times Magazine, October 9, 1966. Cited inAwake! magazine, in the article:Designed to Last Forever, 10/8 1970.
There is no question, then, that RNA presents a filing system perfectly capable of handling any load of learning and memory which the human being is likely to put upon it—and a billion times more than that quantity, too.
Isaac Asimov,The New York Times Magazine, October 9, 1966.
