Re: the creative power of random mutation and natural selection? (was An intr...

From: Huxter4441@aol.com
Date: Thu Mar 23 2000 - 12:48:45 EST

  • Next message: Steven M. Smith: "Dating Old Rocks (was Dennett's bad word ...)"

    SJ quotes ReMine:

    <" They do not allow error catastrophe, which normally would cause a
    degradation away from any target sequence-no matter how severe the
    selection...." (ReMine W.J., "The Biotic Message," 1993, p232)
      

    I did several searches on 'error catastrophe' in both the scientific
    literature and on the web. Only in creationist-related materials did I find
    anything about 'error catastrophe' that means anything close to what ReMine
    and friends seem to think/want it to mean. Two very interesting things came
    up -

    http://telomeres.virtualave.net/error.html
     The Error Catastrophe Theory of Aging
       ...In other words, the DNA is in perfect condition, but something happens
    during the making of the proteins that causes them to be defective...
    Because the error rate does not occur for the majority of the proteins
    tested, it is unlikely that translational errors are the sole cause of aging.

    Or perhaps:
    http://library.thinkquest.org/10120/cyber/glossary.html#Error
    Catastrophe Theory - Error Catastrophe Theory
    Damage to mechanisms that synthesize proteins results in faulty proteins
    which accumulate to a level that causes catastrophic damage to cells,
    tissues, and organs.

    AND

    ‰¥þ To this day, there is no experimental evidence that error catastrophe
    exists. It is totally theoretical," he [Professor Lowenstein] admits.‰¥ÿ

    But, since its in a book purporting ot have 'disproved' evolution, it MUST be
    right, especially since the author has a patent on some part of an MRI
    machine.....



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