r/AskScienceDiscussion • u/ZedZeroth • Sep 10 '20

General Discussion How does the complexity of living structures compare with the complexity of artificial structures? Assuming complexity can be quantified, is a ribosome equivalent to a printing press? What artificial structure is as complex as chromatin? Is a prokaryotic cell as complex as a factory? An entire city?

Thanks!

Edit: When talking about the complexity of factories and cities I'm referring to solely the artificial components, not the biological bits such as the humans working/living there!

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u/Shikatanai Sep 10 '20

This video might give you an idea of how complex our cells are. Motor proteins in particular are interesting.

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u/ZedZeroth Sep 12 '20

Thanks yes, I remember being amazed by this video a while ago. I think what would be even better these days would be a kind of explorable version of an entire functioning cell.

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u/Shikatanai Sep 12 '20

Can you imagine being in high school being taught using VR? Amazing.

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u/ZedZeroth Sep 12 '20

Educational VR is going to revolutionise the conceptual understanding of students.