Genome complexity: de novo or orphan genes (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, August 28, 2015, 22:25 (3156 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: I take "from nowhere" to mean that we don't know the cause - not that there isn't a cause. If the cell can produce novelties, the cause of its ability to produce them may be some internal, inventive mechanism that we haven't discovered yet. If you think it's some divine computer programme, that hasn't been discovered either.-We both accept that we still don't know how novel speciation occurs.
> 
> DAVID: Like Einstein who wanted an eternal universe, I propose an eternal initial intelligence.
> 
> dhw: I don't think your proposal of an eternal intelligence is anything like the proposal of an eternal universe. However, I'm impressed by the morale-raising implications of your comparison. Like Shakespeare, I write plays.-There had to be an eternal something at the beginning or there would be nothing at all now.