| ??? 04/23/06 22:59 Read: times |
#114840 - "Random" in context Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Steve M. Taylor said:
I insist its not random, but simply "directed", if you like, by natural forces, akin to the ones you accept that keeps the planets in (chaotic) orbits, or atoms in their shells. If a population inherits a mutation that improves the population's chances of passing on their genes, it will survive, if it doesn't improve the chances, then in the long term, it doesn't survive. The problem may be that some people think of "random selection". Mutations are random events, but selection of a mutation is definitely not random. Another misconception I've run across is that many don't seem to be aware that only mutations of seed cells (ova and sperm) matter. Mutations in brain cells don't get passed to future generations ;-) Most mutations are harmful (but not necessarily lethal), some are benign, and only a very small percentage are beneficial. But that small percentage, given the rate of mutations, is enough to drive evolution at a rate much greater than some people realize. Just take a look at the radical changes at paleontological boundaries such as the K-T boundary. Large numbers of new genera in just a few million years. BTW, it's no accident that the human species evolved near a place that has the largest natural nuclear reactor ever discovered (Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania). |
| Topic | Author | Date |
| Food for thought | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| i dunno about god | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| It comes to my mind that... | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| ah well | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Evolution | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Reference | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| teps | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Secular humanism | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| timescales | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Not any more | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| the New Testament and Kurasawa | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Maths | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Math | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Science versus faith | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Young Earth | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Figures are way out | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Myth and reason | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Arcana | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Kamiokande | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Kamiokande | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Get the facts | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Facts | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| More facts | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| NOT "random" | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| "Random" in context | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| evolution | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| truth by assertion | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Math and evolution | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| How God created me. | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| It's just a simulation ... | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| or like i do | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Maybe he won't do it the same way | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| zero is quite far | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| The only thing MEN can do ... | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Watch the Movie Tron. | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| me and steve | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| My stands | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| 4000 to 40000 religions | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| politicians | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| 01/01/70 00:00 | ||
| Way to find useful info | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Science of DiscWorld | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| proof | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| its called a markov chain | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| The fallacy | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| The answer is in the math | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Not strictly true | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| reliable sources | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| creation | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| OMNIpotence | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Who says ? | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Simplicity. | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Unassailable | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Almost, but not quite omnipotent. | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| omnipitant beings are meaningless | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| Works for me | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
If we think, every thin is ............ | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| lol | 01/01/70 00:00 | |
| That about wraps it up for God. | 01/01/70 00:00 |