Re: Hardy-Weinberg law

From: John Edser (edser_at_tpg.com.au)
Date: 06/21/04 

Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 23:44:40 +0000 (UTC)

>>Maybe there is some magical method by which the random part can be
>>extracted after the fact, but that seems unlikely - only a part of the
>>result that meets tests for randomness which is likely to be a
>>different matter altogether.

> Many of the more popular myths of the current paradigm
> of evolutionary biology pivot off a kind of rhetorical
> trick. Specifically the trick involves employing a
> word that has more than one meaning in an argument (or
> special case) to achieve the illusion of scientific
> validity. This is *all* that's going on with the
> Hardy-Weinberg, socalled, Law. And you hit the nail on
> the head with respect to which word is the "pivot" with
> respect to how this rhetorical trick is manifested in
> Hardy-Weinberg: randomness.

BOH:-
Wierd. The Hardy-Weinberg law is deterimistic: there is no randomness
in it.

JE:-
"Wierd"? Dr O'Hara is not correct.
The HW distribution is just a binomial
distribution derived from Pascale's
Triangle. This represents a triangle
formed when a number of objects are
dropped one by one from a single point, e.g.
a cross section through one conical pile of sand
grains that can easily be formed this way. Such
a distribution only represents a random causative
pattern, i.e. the objects (in this case the sand
grains) can only settle in a binomial distribution
forming Pascale's Triangle because nothing stopped
them from doing so! HW represents the distribution
of genes on which _only_ random processes
are operating and can only suppose an infinite population
as a _heuristic_ assumption, simply because nobody
can observe an infinite population within nature.

Best Wishes,

John Edser
Independent Researcher

PO Box 266
Church Pt
NSW 2105
Australia

edser@tpg.com.au

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