RRoman

[Fundie] But then someone would have to design the filter and do the filtering!!! Therefore God Exists!!!! Praise The Lord!! [/Fundie]

Oolon Colluphid

Sure, and of course. I was simply recycling Marcel’s terminology... the point being that neutral and beneficial mutations are not, comparatively, weeded out at all, but instead in effect are encouraged. So (by definition!) if any changes are ‘decimated’, it ain’t generally the ‘good’ ones! No mention of the speed or ruthlessness of elimination from the population need be mentioned. It’s just good ol’ differential survival and reproduction -- differential compared to what else is around -- and describes tendencies, not certainties.

To put it another way: if an improved version of some function comes along, it will tend to spread, out-competing the rival versions. So one could regard the previous standard edition as mildly deleterious -- it’s not as good as the trendy new model, and thereby hampers its own progression to subsequent generations. It’s like mobile phones. New-fangled, tiny, all-singing-all-dancing ones spread through the population, replacing the bricks of last year. This does not mean that the old ones are bad, nor that many people might not hold onto them. They may even have some functions that are simpler, and therefore still of use in some environments (in the hands of a technophobe, for example). And the brick-phone might simply become silenced, shut away in a drawer with no battery, rather than thrown away. A pseudophone, if you will.

Similarly with mildly deleterious mutatons. As you note, unless it is lethal or a serious problem, it may still persist for some time. It’s all a matter of what it does in relation to the environment -- including all the other genes it’s involved with.

(Erm, I’d better stop here before I throw up a bunch more nits for the tweezer-minded!)

Thanks for the link though. It’s really nice to get a Nature item without a subscription for once . It’s now filed, for digestion later .

Cheers, Oolon

scigirl

That's ok, neither do most Christians.

I bought Origin last summer but I haven't even looked at it yet. Someday. . . .

Oh and annelise, welcome! Don't you just love the belief that the universe can only be wonderful and amazing and complex if some magic sky fairy poofed it into existence??

scigirl

RBH

Oolon wroteTo aid your digestion, there's a long thread discussing the paper on ISCID.

RBH

Dark Jedi

Maybe that's why they think it's our holy book.

They don't read their bible, yet claim it guides their life.

We don't read Origins, therefore it must be the sacred guiding text for our lives.