Don - Your statements are accurate but, IMHO, underestiamte the
complexity of duration in biology. (The mks system of units is based on
what is called 'absolute' time of Newton - it is very conveinent for
non-chemical dynamics. But chemical dynamics are scale dependent.)
I say you underestimate the complexity of duration in living systems
because not only do organisms have many intrinsic time scales (as do
molecules!), but the coupling of macroscopic processes to molecular
processes generates a coupling among the time scales. Such coupling are
not under complete control of the organism but also depend on the
ecoment - the external world outside the boundaries of the organism.
Duration in biology is indeed a very difficult topic.
(If one adds to this mechanical view of time the additional complexity
of how we expereince time, the situation becomes increasingly complex.
JT Frazier has brought many of these ideas together in two different
books.)
Cheers
Jerry