This is one of those really great things about science that people don't really stop to think about too often but it's exactly right. Rather than depicting cell chemistry as a precisely orchestrated ballet where the movement of"the molecules are all directed, purposeful, and smooth," it should "look more like a mosh pit filled with meth addicts." All that glorious and seemingly improbably chemistry is the result of a massive amount of random events that are shaded JUST a bit in the right direction. Myers explains:
The closest example on a macro scale that I can think of is a casino. People go in and out of a casino, and they engage in many small probabilistic events. Some people win big, some lose big, and all states in between are represented…but the house always has its small, advantageous odds in its favor. They don't shake down the crowd deterministically and demand a cut from each, instead what they have done is basically tipped the the reaction equilibrium gently to favor the transfer from one state — your pocket — to another state — their bank. From the aggregate kinetics of a great many transactions with only a tiny edge in one way, they have constructed a powerful and reliable siphon hose to draw off your money. (I suspect that's also one, perhaps unconscious, reason why gambling establishments are fanatical about keeping out people with even a hint of a successful gambling system; it doesn't take much of a shift in the percentages to reverse the flow in their money siphon.)
That's it precisely. On a micro level, things seem random, jerky, and unreliable, but on a macro level, you see a smootly operating cell with organelles each performing a precise function to keep your heart beating or your finger nails growing or your brain reading this post.
Enstein once famously objected to quantum mechanics with the quip "God does not play dice with the universe." After half a century of experimentation, however, it seems certain that just the opposite is true.
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