Re: OOL X - The origin of the RNA world.


"Tim Tyler" <tim@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:d2pvfp$det$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> tinyurl.com/uh3t <rem642b@xxxxxxxxx> wrote or quoted:
> > > From: Tim Tyler <tim@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> > > I think you have to have some sort of evolving system before the term
> > > "genetic" becomes very useful.
> >
> > I'm not sure what you mean by "useful", like useful as a word to
> > describe what's happening, or useful as a process for evolution. If the
> > latter, I agree. But if the former: "Genetic" merely refers to any data
> > that is usually retained across many generations (of replication).
> > Already when the first successful replicator occurs, the single "1" bit
> > in the bitmask of possible replicators is turned on and stays on for a
> > very long time, so it surely qualifies as "genetic".
>
> Evolving systems don't necessarily have to have clearly defined
> generations - nor do they need to replicate anything.
>
> What they do need to do is preserve information across reasonable
> spans of time.

Hmmm. I think there has to be replication (of the information) at some
point for there to be evolution under natural selection. Or, at the
very least, there has to be some kind of "fitness" subject to selection
and dependent on the information that is being preserved. Perhaps it
is lack of imagination on my part, but I don't see how this "fitness"
is definable without producing copies of the information.

[snip]
> The issue isn't simple. For one thing, you can't assume identifiable
> replicators exist in the system.
>
> If you can only go on information in the system which is preserved
> over time - and if you fail to specify some minimum threshold of
> such information - then you wind up with rivers storing their paths
> "genetically" and the earth remembering which way it is spinning
> "genetically".
>
> IMO, such usage would go far beyond conventional usage of the term.

Such usage is excluded if, as I suggest above, you require both information
preservation and information duplication in your definition of "genetic".


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