Chapter 8 

 APPLICATIONS AND PREDICTIONS 



It is clear that the central macroscopic variable in this whole study is the 

 talandic temperature. This quantity is a measure of the oscillatory excitation 

 or talandic energy level of a system organized microscopically in such a way 

 that oscillations are an intrinsic feature of its dynamics. The main idea which 

 arises from this study is that such a system can exist in many different talandic 

 energy states without any change occurring in the steady state values of the 

 microscopic variables. In terms of the epigenetic system of cells, this means that 

 with all the microscopic parameters fixed so that the steady state levels of 

 all different species of molecular and macromolecular populations do not 

 change, it should be possible for the cell to be in any one of a large number of 

 states in the sense of its level of oscillatory activity or excitation. The theory 

 actually implies more than this. It is a consequence of a classical analysis that 

 the number of possible " energy " states for fixed microscopic parameters forms 

 a continuous spectrum so that the system can move infinitesimally from one 

 such state to the next. Only in a quantum theory do the transitions occur by 

 finite jumps. 



The use of classical notions in the present monograph was dictated entirely 

 by considerations of simplicity and the preliminary nature of this work, and 

 therefore the existence of a continuous spectrum of oscillatory states should 

 not be made a condition for the success or failure of this approach to temporal 

 organization in cells. It seems extremely hkely that if multiple states of a 

 talandic nature exist in cells they will be found to form a discrete spectrum, 

 and so be quantized. This is because the characteristics of biochemical 

 oscillators will most likely be those of limit cycles with strong stability rather 

 than those of the weakly stable oscillations of the present theory. Stable 

 limit cycles are known to be separated by regions of instability (see, e.g. 

 Coddington and Levinson, 1955). We need not repeat again all our reasons for 

 using a classical theory. The purpose of this study has been to see if there are 

 any macroscopic parameters which arise from particular microscopic assump- 

 tion, and then to see if these general parameters suggest new ways of investi- 

 gating the integrated behaviour of cells in time. The talandic temperature is the 

 most obvious and important of the macroscopic parameters and with it goes 

 the notion of talandic energy states. We want now to suggest how one might 

 approach the question of controlling 6 experimentally, and hence how different 

 macroscopic states may be produced in cells. We can then make some definite 

 predictions on the basis of our theoretical investigations about the behaviour 

 which should result from certain experimental procedures. These predictions 



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