----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert J. Chassell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2005 7:09 PM Subject: Re: Brave New Genetic Frontiers
> Leonard Matusik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> asked > > How can blind cave fish could result purely from random mutations > ... ? > > Well, the word `random' is misleading since after the > non-exact-replications, the survivors are selected to survive. > > The word `random' is accurate in that you cannot specify which births > show the relevant non-exact-replications; and you cannot specify how > many generations will pass before all the fish become blind; and you > cannot specify how many individuals in each generation make up a > population. You have to do all this probabilistically. > > But the word is not as useful a concept as the notion of `selection'. > Randomness makes selection more possible and efficient. > > You probably want to ask > > How can a population of blind cave fish result from occasional > non-exact-replications in which a portion of those born in each > generation make a lower investment in unnecessary resources than > their competitors and are more likely to survive than their > competitors? > > I know that is a long sentence. But the question involves > > 1. blind cave fish > > 2. non-exact-replications > > 3. population thinking, not individual thinking > > 4. many generations, each with a large enough population > > 5. selection for reproduction of those who are best adapted to the > environment at that time for survival for reproduction > > Off hand, I cannot think of a shorter sentence that includes all those > concepts. > > It would be great if someone else can. I think the question can be expressed. Is the natural tendency for a population to disperse in gene space through random mutations (in the absence of a natural selection induced focus in gene space) sufficient to explain the existence of blind cave fish. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
