Alex, the concentration of genetic info [through natural or artificial selection] within a gene-pool, can produce a new species.

But to say that this implies, or is evidence of an information producing mechanism, is simply untrue.

If, as the story goes, life originated in the primordial soup and subsequently grew into the myriad of biological life we see today, then there must be an information-producing mechanism.

The majority of mutations, or transmutations or whatever term you wish to use to describe them, are information deleting. Or, are neutral, in quantitative terms.

An example of a neutral information change is when a bacterium recieves an information "packet" from a bacterio-phage virus. This can result in the bacterium aquire-ing anti-biotic resistence. At first blush, this would seem to be the sort of mechanism needed to support the Darwinian hypothesis. However, this transfer is not the result of information generation. It is simply a transfer of existing information.

Also, many of the resistant strains of bacteria, aquire their resistence through the deletion of a segment of DNA that codes for an enzyme that the antibiotic agent acts upon. Hence, they lose sensitivity, rather than gaining resistence.

The difference is clearly more than semantical.

If this hypothesis is true, there needs to be an information-producing mechanism to account for the mind boggle-ing increase in biological complexity that has occurred over time. And, it should be readily observable, considering the net information change.

And it is not.

Brian

• Growth produces information - yanniru - May 21, 2001 - 12:03 UTC
  • the meaningful definition - isaiaha41 - May 22, 2001 - 03:29 UTC
    • You need a new word - yanniru - May 22, 2001 - 11:45 UTC
      • Random change IS new information. Enviroment decides how useful. - alexander - May 22, 2001 - 15:54 UTC
      • Big Bang - isaiaha41 - May 28, 2001 - 22:06 UTC
        • Triangulation and the speed of light - yanniru - May 29, 2001 - 12:10 UTC
          • Parallax measurements are simple. - alexander - May 30, 2001 - 22:54 UTC
            • thank you both - isaiaha41 - June 2, 2001 - 11:37 UTC
              • It is not a premise - yanniru - June 2, 2001 - 12:46 UTC