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What do scientists say about existence?
RE: What do scientists say about existence?
(June 18, 2017 at 11:50 pm)snowtracks Wrote: In the book - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Watchmaker = “The Blind Watchmaker” Richard Dawkins demonstrated that natural selection requires intelligence; thereby completely invalidating the theory that the universe is not directed.
He uses a computer program to generate the Shakespeare phase “Me thinks it is like a weasel” to simulate how random mutations and natural selection could generate new functional information...

Snowtracks, I think you missed the point of Dawkins' computer programming experiment. IIRC (it's been a while since I read the book), he demonstrated two different algorithms.  One was completely random, and the other operated under an additional constraint:  If the correct letter lands in a slot, it stops changing while incorrect letters continue to mutate until they, too fit.

Similarly, evolution does not cause everyone's genes to randomly change to something else with each reproductive cycle.  Perhaps in the early days of DNA there was a lot of trial and error, and a lot of "experimental" genomes that appeared for a single generation before dying out, but over many generations the genomes that achieved a good fit with their environments achieved stability and a decreasing number of mutations, evolving into distinct and relatively unchanging forms.

(Disclaimer:  I am not a geneticist but I occasionally hang out with one. Big Grin   This is strictly my own interpretation of what Dawkins was trying to say in The Blind Watchmaker, and is subject to correction and elaboration by real geneticists.)
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Messages In This Thread
What do scientists say about existence? - by Mariosep - June 10, 2017 at 8:52 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 10, 2017 at 9:07 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Mariosep - June 10, 2017 at 10:16 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 10, 2017 at 10:22 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Mariosep - June 10, 2017 at 10:42 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 10, 2017 at 10:56 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Mariosep - June 10, 2017 at 10:30 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 10, 2017 at 10:39 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Brian37 - July 18, 2017 at 10:56 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by bennyboy - June 12, 2017 at 11:11 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 11, 2017 at 6:53 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Alex K - June 11, 2017 at 7:59 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Cyberman - June 11, 2017 at 10:25 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by chimp3 - June 11, 2017 at 10:34 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by chimp3 - June 11, 2017 at 4:07 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Alex K - June 11, 2017 at 4:27 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Jehanne - June 13, 2017 at 10:07 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by bennyboy - June 14, 2017 at 10:04 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Jehanne - June 14, 2017 at 10:19 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by bennyboy - June 14, 2017 at 10:38 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 14, 2017 at 12:19 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 12, 2017 at 3:34 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Astreja - June 13, 2017 at 10:55 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Jehanne - June 13, 2017 at 11:31 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 13, 2017 at 8:58 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Losty - June 14, 2017 at 1:46 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 14, 2017 at 3:00 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Cyberman - June 14, 2017 at 11:26 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by bennyboy - June 15, 2017 at 10:39 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 15, 2017 at 5:12 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 15, 2017 at 6:20 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by brewer - June 16, 2017 at 4:57 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by chimp3 - June 17, 2017 at 5:27 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Astreja - June 20, 2017 at 1:40 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Astreja - June 21, 2017 at 12:43 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Astreja - June 22, 2017 at 12:04 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Cyberman - June 19, 2017 at 12:24 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Cyberman - June 20, 2017 at 12:50 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Succubus - June 23, 2017 at 10:46 pm
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Losty - June 22, 2017 at 2:47 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Losty - June 22, 2017 at 4:16 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Losty - June 22, 2017 at 5:37 am
RE: What do scientists say about existence? - by Alex K - July 18, 2017 at 5:43 pm

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