# Cell Types May Be Dynamical Attractors by Stuart A. Kauffman > “I was entering biology at that time, with a background studying neural circuits and logic. It was clear to most biologists that some huge genetic network among the then thought 100,000 human genes somehow controlled cell differentiation in ontogeny. My question was an odd one: Did evolution have to struggle hard to evolve very specific genetic networks to support ontogeny, or, I hoped, were there huge classes, or "ensembles" of networks that as a total class, behaved with sufficient self-organized order to account for major features of ontogeny?” > **— Stuart A. Kauffman**, *2012, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?”* ## Sources and Context - **Direct Edge response and surrounding essay:** [Demonstration That Cell Types Are Dynamical Attractors](https://www.edge.org/responses/what-is-your-favorite-deep-elegant-or-beautiful-explanation) — Edge published this exact, continuous passage in its 2012 Annual Question collection, *WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?*. The response page preserves the surrounding argument and qualifications. - **Complete local collection index:** [[research/Edge 2012 Full Quotation Curation|Edge 2012 Full Quotation Curation]] — retained source-first record for the response cohort and this passage's promotion status. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Edge|Edge]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|Valley Roots]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|Never Going to Make It!]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Evolutionary Biology|Evolutionary Biology]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Evolutionary Biology|Evolutionary Biology]] - [[wiki/Emergence|Emergence]] - [[wiki/Self-Organization|Self-Organization]] - [[wiki/Genetic Code|Genetic Code]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “I was entering biology at that time, with a background studying neural circuits and logic. It was clear to most biologists that some huge genetic network among the then thought 100,000 human genes somehow controlled cell differentiation in ontogeny. My question was an odd one: Did evolution have to struggle hard to evolve very specific genetic networks to support ontogeny, or, I hoped, were there huge classes, or "ensembles" of networks that as a total class, behaved with sufficient self-organized order to account for major features of ontogeny?” — Stuart A. Kauffman, 2012, Edge Annual Question, “WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?” https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-stuart-kauffman-cell-types-dynamical-attractors ```