It looks to me as though John is not compeletly accounting for
selection. True, he is aware that harmful mutations don't propagate, but
perhaps he is not taking account of the fact that beneficial mutations do
propagate. The action of selection at every generation guarantees that if
a better
variation is produced, it will have a reproductive advantage. ........
.......................................................................
Another point that needs
to be made is that selective advantage is not obtained solely through
mutations. In sexual reproduction offspring inherit some genetic material
from each parent. In this way genetic material gets combined in new ways
at reproduction, increasing the variety of characteristics in offspring.
I've used genetic algorithms in a few design problems and have found that
the recombination of genetic traits at reproduction seems more useful than
mutation. Mutation can help you get away from a local extremum, but too
high a mutation rate can actually interfere with convergence to the optimum.
Bill Hamilton
I agree. Recombination of genetic traits at reproduction has been
the only usefull avenue. My son looks more handsome than I, but he doesn't
have a third arm or nostril or a third lung or anything new except for
traits that have been in my family and my wifes for years that have
nothing to do with mutations but everything to do with reproduction.
Is there an example of otherwise?
john w queen ii
---my second child is 5 weeks old, he or she has a heartbeat,
fingerprints and his major organs are under development---