Re: Re: Extropianism & Theology

J. Eric Mortensen (eric@episteme.no)
Mon, 1 Mar 1999 18:07:47 +0100

>|Whoa there Tim. There isn't
>|enough time since the beginning of the Universe to get from blue green
algae
>|to amoebas, much less to people if natural selection from random mutations
is
>|the only mechanism.
>
>I suggest you quote your sources for this claim of yours.
>>>
>
>What's your name? A source is Stuart Kaufmann's book, "At Home in the
>Universe." I'm not arguing against evolution, but that there must be a
step
>before Natural Selection that limits the number of options to be selected.
>
>Not a compaint, but an assertion, can you tell the difference?
>
>Adrian

I'm not an expert on these matters but I believe these two points should be correct:

  1. According to Richard Dawkins in The Blind Watchmaker, random mutations are pretty powerful when compounded over hundreds and thousands of generations.
  2. Most genetic variation occur in sexual reproduction, i.e., genes in offspring are combined from the genes of the two parents. This allows for much larger variation between parents and offspring.

Regards,
Eric