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Poem: Biology Is Not Physics (Redux)

Due to an editing error, the first stanza in this poem was left off the original post. We are reprinting the poem in its entirety  for readers’ pleasure. We sincerely apologize to the author!

You’ve found the spark that makes the sun burn bright

and tracked the orbits of the distant stars.
You’ve harnessed energy for planes and cars—
success convinces you you’ve got it right.

You think the rule of physics must be strict,
yet only in the aggregate do maths
apply to living things. Their single paths
take twists and turns that you cannot predict.

Man’s thirst for knowledge never can be quenched
while minds refuse to grant the role of mind
that regulates the quantum. You won’t find
broad truth while narrow physics is entrenched.

What sort of science would it take to know
how neurons fire, hearts beat, and grasses grow?

— sonnet by JJM


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