(March 24, 2018 at 1:58 pm)snowtracks Wrote:(March 20, 2018 at 4:01 am)Mathilda Wrote: Indeed. The neutral gene theory holds that duplicated genes which are not detrimental to the fitness of the agent are retained because there is no pressure to get rid of them. Although they do not necessarily increase the fitness of the agent that has the duplicated gene, it does open up the search space for future generations because it is extra DNA that can be mutated."The neutral gene theory" is a theory that needs all ready existing DNA information to garner more informaton.
I do this the whole time with my evolutionary algorithms. I cannot know a-priori how large the genotype needs to be, nor do I want it any larger than it needs to be. So I start off small and let it grow during the course of the evolutionary run.
Well done on recognising that the neutral gene theory is a theory. Extra bonus points for recognising that theories are derived from evidence and observations.
We don't yet know how DNA first formed but it would have been some form of self-organisation. Science is always learning more.
Personally I hold to the metabolism-first school of abiogenesis.