Re: Evolution is NOT random

Virgil wrote:
In article <g0nk4a$1p7k$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
dkomo <dkomo871@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


It's hard to imagine any quantum fluctuation
strong enough to cause one set of pick-up sticks to fall in a different
pattern.


Not for me. If any one stick were to be exactly in balance on its
pointed end, which, while highly improbable, is not impossible, then its
direction of eventual fall is unpredictable, and could be effected by
quantum events.


Highly improbable? About as improbable as the quantum fluctuation that
initiated the big bang. You wouldn't see this happen in any of the
trillion identical worlds, but you might see it if you had a trillion
raised to the power of a trillion worlds.

Just getting the stick to perfectly balance is a problem in itself.
There are inhomogeneities in the earth's gravitational field due to
density fluctuations in surrounding matter, not to mention density
inhomgeneities within the stick itself. Tiny inhomogeneities indeed but
orders of magnitude greater than any quantum fluctuations. Then there
is the problem of the stick getting struck billions of times every
second by molecules of the atmosphere. Then there are the corliolis
forces due to the earth's rotation. Finally, how long would the stick
have to stay balanced in order to experience the quantum fluctuation
before it was struck by one of the other other falling sticks? All
these effects are macroscopic and repeatable, and would have to be
negated before a quantum fluctuation could affect the way the stick falls.

Forget about it.


--dkomo@xxxxxxxx




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