Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 63 (9162 total)
4 online now:
Newest Member: popoi
Post Volume: Total: 916,356 Year: 3,613/9,624 Month: 484/974 Week: 97/276 Day: 25/23 Hour: 0/3


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   Cellular Creativity and the Unselfish Gene
nwr
Member
Posts: 6409
From: Geneva, Illinois
Joined: 08-08-2005
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 46 of 47 (260087)
11-15-2005 9:45 PM
Reply to: Message 45 by Nova
11-15-2005 9:20 PM


Re: Modification to the Eureka Hypothesis
If random mutations were the source of variation that Natural Selection operates on, then no control could be exerted on the rate of production of variation (and thus on the species evolutionary rate), since random mutations are unpredictable in time and space.
I'm not convinced that is correct. It seems to me that the rate of mutation can itself evolve.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 45 by Nova, posted 11-15-2005 9:20 PM Nova has not replied

  
crashfrog
Member (Idle past 1486 days)
Posts: 19762
From: Silver Spring, MD
Joined: 03-20-2003


Message 47 of 47 (260089)
11-15-2005 10:10 PM
Reply to: Message 45 by Nova
11-15-2005 9:20 PM


Re: Modification to the Eureka Hypothesis
If random mutations were the source of variation that Natural Selection operates on, then no control could be exerted on the rate of production of variation (and thus on the species evolutionary rate), since random mutations are unpredictable in time and space.
Well, that's not true. We observe in many species (yeasts, for instance) that the rate of mutogenesis increases under certain conditions of environmental stress. So, in fact, the rate of variation can be controlled, simply by increasing or decreasing the cell's ability to mitigate chromosomal damage and copying error.
In addition to the questions I've outlined in previous posts, which you still have not addressed, I don't see why the "experimentor gene" in your model needs to be anything but the regular, guaranteed supply of genetic variation represented by random mutation. You've constructed a model that explains exactly as much as random mutation does, but introduces as-yet-undetected genes to do so. In other words your model fails the test of parsimony.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 45 by Nova, posted 11-15-2005 9:20 PM Nova has not replied

  
Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024