Computer modeling, complex biological systems, and their simplifications

Abstract

The amount of information defining a biological system, as specified in its genome, is vastly larger than the amount of information the human mind can handle simultaneously in its short-term memory (7 +/- 2 items at most). In such a situation the mind tends to simplify, linearize, and consider only a few of many variables that may be involved. This may be limiting when an experimenter interprets his own experiments without help from theory or modeling as is common in biology. The Michaelis-Menten model, which is very useful although not necessarily valid, and its linearizations are described as an example of this. The social processes and obligations involved in simplifying complex situations are discussed. Computer simulation provides a method for investigating complex nonlinear systems that does not require excessive simplification of the biological system being studied and whose economics are becoming steadily more favorable.