If NASA simulate physics (with programming) precisely enough to accurately calculate what will happen when they send a rocket into space, can biologists simulate the human body to discover what will happen when, for example, new medicine is introduced to it?

Question

I was thinking a reinforcement learning algorithm could be a trained in a simulated environment to find a cure for cancer, testing how every which complex process of a new medicine or even nanotechnology might react to its environment. Am I way off?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Physics is consistent and predictable. If you launch a rocket *that way* and cut the engine, then it just keeps going *that way*. That’s super easy to model.

Biology is a hot mess. Yes, we know “how things work”…but if a thousand people bump their legs on the corner of the exact same table, while moving at the exact same pace, they’ll still all develop slightly different bruises. That’s *really hard* to model.