Levinthal's paradox

Biology

Levinthal's paradox is that if we tried to predict how a protein folds among all decillions of possibilities, it would take us an astronomically long time. Yet, proteins in nature fold in seconds or less. What seems impossible to the human, paradoxically, happens all the time in nature, without us understanding how it is possible.

The paradox is a reminder about nature's immense "wiseness" and our lack thereof in comparison. Nature finds a way, even if we cannot see how. Often, then, the default action for us should be inaction, to let nature do its thing with minimal human intervention. (Related: iatrogenesis)

One can try to chase longevity with a diet of pills, an army of scientists tracking every possible thing about their body, an insane daily routine… Only to be outlived by a random rural person just trying to build stuff with their own hands and eating what they grow or hunt - as nature intended.

Even with constantly improving technology and theory, we ought to be humble and appreciate that nature might be smarter still.

(Note: Since the paradox was proposed, AI has advanced our understanding of protein folding dramatically.)

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