What do you think about scientists reconstructing Leonardo Da Vinci’s genome?

Hi Konrad,

Once again, you have a heck of an interesting mind and have asked an intriguing question.

So what do I think?

First, I think it would be interesting, in that I’d guess they would find nothing especially interesting. He was, after all, a human being first. So even if you had a video of his every waking hour across his entire life, I doubt you’d be able to describe in any tangible way how he became the genius he became.

Sebastian Sung would probably disagree as he claims we are “neurons all the way down.” In other words, he believes the patterns of interactions between our brain cells ARE who we are, and that if we could completely map these patterns, we could put them into a computer and become immortal.

Hah. Materialists.

Then too, the days of the genome being seen as finite and descriptive of anything other than vague generalizations is upon us. Recently published scientific studies present clear physical evidence for the idea that each and every neuron in our brains contains different DNA. That’s not just a difference between all brains. It’s a difference between every neuron within a single brain.

So much for the idea that we each have a specific and single pattern of DNA in all of our cells.

Remember, too, that Crick and Watson, the dudes who “discovered” DNA, had some pretty openly stated biases which motivated them. For one thing, they were atheists. So they saw DNA as proving there was no need for a “designer” God in order for there to be life. Also, they were materialists who believed in atom-ism. In effect, they were arguing for the old saw that everything is comprised of a limited set of elemental properties.

The recent studies I mentioned again point to that these “elemental particles” are fractal patterns rather than linear patterns. And fractal patterns are “recognizable patterns which always repeat differently.” As opposed to the idea of DNA, which is that there are recognizable patterns in us that “always repeat identically.”

So what could we learn from exploring Da Vinci’s DNA?

That he was 3 % Neanderthal?

That he was probably on the autism spectrum?

That he had some remarkably special interests (war machines, human anatomy, feeding himself by feeding his mind, etc.? You, Konrad, probably have a lot in common with him.