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Feynman Besmirched, Scientific Community Bemused

Craig Venter misquotes Feynman in DNA

Craig Venter
Image: Wikipedia, PLoS

Having singlehandedly sequenced the human genome, in a heric effort to prove the superiority of the capitalist system, Craig ventor has now taken the next step on the road pioneered by the Deity, Venter has created life itself!

When Venter and his team successfully constructed the first ever cell controlled by a synthetic genome last year, they cleverly placed some playful watermarks in the genetic code to prove that the bacterial cell really was running the inserted, synthetic DNA. Using an alphabetic code based on DNA’s four nitrogenous bases — A, T, C, and G — the team encoded the names of the collaborators, some HTML code, an email address, and famous quotes Nobel Laureate and famed comedian, Richard Feynman.

The Feynman quote that Entrepreneur Venter misquoted  read, “What I cannot build, I cannot understand.”

But that isn’t quite right. The quote, as shown here in Laureate  Feynman’s famous scrawl on a Caltech chalkboard, famously read read, “What I cannot create, I do not understand.”

After getting a note from Caltech with a photo of Feynman’s chalkboard bearing the quote, Entrepreneur Venter recently announced that he will correct the error.  As true believers, we rejoice and hope that Professor Venter will not destroy the error-ed life he hayth wrought.

God is forgiving.


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