I think you misunderstand.
cells get signals to do something.
so a lot can be induced by creating the right information an guiding the process as the machinery is there.
it needs ‘instruction’
if there are simulants we use the action of it to create the effect.
But some things like a protein chain… is a raw material required to build something.
how can you build without raw materials? there is only so much you can reassemble from whatever is floating around.
You have a physical body. it takes these dense materials to continue to make more structure to survive.
The “How the structure is designed, we is what we influence.”