Daniel Smith
Posts: 970
Joined: Sep. 2007
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[quote=David Holland,Oct. 15 2007,15:51] | Quote (Daniel Smith @ Oct. 14 2007,10:20) | [EDIT]
Speaking of predictions, I have another one for you:
It's my hypothesis that random mutations are only neutral or deleterious - never advantageous. All advantageous mutations are non-random and are therefore experimentally repeatable and will occurr too rapidly to be random.
Therefore, I predict that anytime Acromobacter guttatus Sp. K172 is subjected to an environment where it must consume nylon to survive, the same frame shift will occur, resulting in Flavobacterium Sp. KI72.
Better? |
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I want to go back to this one for a minute. Suppose I set up a vat with a bazillion Acromobacter guttatus and nylon as the primary source of carbon. If one of the bacteria developes the ability to digest nylon has your hypothesis been supported? Without numbers I can't tell. |
Only if it develops the same exact frame shift and only if it happens consistenty faster than random mutation rates can account for.
BTW, I don't have any idea what those rates are, but I'm sure whoever was doing the test would get that info first.
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"If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance." Orville Wright
"The presence or absence of a creative super-intelligence is unequivocally a scientific question." Richard Dawkins
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