Abstract
Langman and Cohn have written a paper entitled "If the immune repertoire evolved to be large, random, and somatically generated, then..." This paper uses reductionist logic to prove that the minimal model of immunity proposed by Langman and Cohn is the only reasonable description of the workings of the immune system. Here we analyze the logic behind this model and show that the complexity of the real immune system contradicts the teachings of Langman and Cohn.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 23-30 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Cellular Immunology |
Volume | 216 |
Issue number | 1-2 |
DOIs |
|
State | Published - 2002 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Sol Efroni is a doctoral student in the Department of Immunology and in the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science; his fellowship is supported by The Feinberg Graduate School and by the Minerva Foundation.
Funding
Sol Efroni is a doctoral student in the Department of Immunology and in the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science; his fellowship is supported by The Feinberg Graduate School and by the Minerva Foundation.
Funders | Funder number |
---|---|
Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics | |
Feinberg Graduate School | |
Minerva Foundation | |
Weizmann Institute of Science |
Keywords
- Complex systems
- Emergence
- Immunological Homunculus
- Reductionism
- Self-non-self discrimination
- Specificity