Tillbaka till svenska Fidonet
English   Information   Debug  
ECHOLIST   0/18295
EC_SUPPORT   0/318
ELECTRONICS   0/359
ELEKTRONIK.GER   1534
ENET.LINGUISTIC   0/13
ENET.POLITICS   0/4
ENET.SOFT   0/11701
ENET.SYSOP   33773
ENET.TALKS   0/32
ENGLISH_TUTOR   0/2000
EVOLUTION   0/1335
FDECHO   0/217
FDN_ANNOUNCE   0/7068
FIDONEWS   23439
FIDONEWS_OLD1   0/49742
FIDONEWS_OLD2   0/35949
FIDONEWS_OLD3   0/30874
FIDONEWS_OLD4   0/37224
FIDO_SYSOP   12841
FIDO_UTIL   0/180
FILEFIND   0/209
FILEGATE   0/212
FILM   0/18
FNEWS_PUBLISH   4155
FN_SYSOP   41520
FN_SYSOP_OLD1   71952
FTP_FIDO   0/2
FTSC_PUBLIC   0/13557
FUNNY   0/4886
GENEALOGY.EUR   0/71
GET_INFO   105
GOLDED   0/408
HAM   0/16041
HOLYSMOKE   0/6791
HOT_SITES   0/1
HTMLEDIT   0/71
HUB203   466
HUB_100   264
HUB_400   39
HUMOR   0/29
IC   0/2851
INTERNET   0/424
INTERUSER   0/3
IP_CONNECT   719
JAMNNTPD   0/233
JAMTLAND   0/47
KATTY_KORNER   0/41
LAN   0/16
LINUX-USER   0/19
LINUXHELP   0/1155
LINUX   0/22002
LINUX_BBS   0/957
mail   18.68
mail_fore_ok   249
MENSA   0/341
MODERATOR   0/102
MONTE   0/992
MOSCOW_OKLAHOMA   0/1245
MUFFIN   0/783
MUSIC   0/321
N203_STAT   894
N203_SYSCHAT   313
NET203   321
NET204   69
NET_DEV   0/10
NORD.ADMIN   0/101
NORD.CHAT   0/2572
NORD.FIDONET   189
NORD.HARDWARE   0/28
NORD.KULTUR   0/114
NORD.PROG   0/32
NORD.SOFTWARE   0/88
NORD.TEKNIK   0/58
NORD   0/453
OCCULT_CHAT   0/93
OS2BBS   0/787
OS2DOSBBS   0/580
OS2HW   0/42
OS2INET   0/37
OS2LAN   0/134
OS2PROG   0/36
OS2REXX   0/113
OS2USER-L   207
OS2   0/4779
OSDEBATE   0/18996
PASCAL   0/490
PERL   0/457
PHP   0/45
POINTS   0/405
POLITICS   0/29554
POL_INC   0/14731
PSION   103
R20_ADMIN   1117
R20_AMATORRADIO   0/2
R20_BEST_OF_FIDONET   13
R20_CHAT   0/893
R20_DEPP   0/3
R20_DEV   399
R20_ECHO2   1379
R20_ECHOPRES   0/35
R20_ESTAT   0/719
R20_FIDONETPROG...
...RAM.MYPOINT
  0/2
R20_FIDONETPROGRAM   0/22
R20_FIDONET   0/248
R20_FILEFIND   0/24
R20_FILEFOUND   0/22
R20_HIFI   0/3
R20_INFO2   2632
R20_INTERNET   0/12940
R20_INTRESSE   0/60
R20_INTR_KOM   0/99
R20_KANDIDAT.CHAT   42
R20_KANDIDAT   28
R20_KOM_DEV   112
R20_KONTROLL   0/13030
R20_KORSET   0/18
R20_LOKALTRAFIK   0/24
R20_MODERATOR   0/1852
R20_NC   76
R20_NET200   245
R20_NETWORK.OTH...
...ERNETS
  0/13
R20_OPERATIVSYS...
...TEM.LINUX
  0/44
R20_PROGRAMVAROR   0/1
R20_REC2NEC   534
R20_SFOSM   0/340
R20_SF   0/108
R20_SPRAK.ENGLISH   0/1
R20_SQUISH   107
R20_TEST   2
R20_WORST_OF_FIDONET   12
RAR   0/9
RA_MULTI   106
RA_UTIL   0/162
REGCON.EUR   0/2055
REGCON   0/13
SCIENCE   0/1206
SF   0/239
SHAREWARE_SUPPORT   0/5146
SHAREWRE   0/14
SIMPSONS   0/169
STATS_OLD1   0/2539.065
STATS_OLD2   0/2530
STATS_OLD3   0/2395.095
STATS_OLD4   0/1692.25
SURVIVOR   0/495
SYSOPS_CORNER   0/3
SYSOP   0/84
TAGLINES   0/112
TEAMOS2   0/4530
TECH   0/2617
TEST.444   0/105
TRAPDOOR   0/19
TREK   0/755
TUB   0/290
UFO   0/40
UNIX   0/1316
USA_EURLINK   0/102
USR_MODEMS   0/1
VATICAN   0/2740
VIETNAM_VETS   0/14
VIRUS   0/378
VIRUS_INFO   0/201
VISUAL_BASIC   0/473
WHITEHOUSE   0/5187
WIN2000   0/101
WIN32   0/30
WIN95   0/4275
WIN95_OLD1   0/70272
WINDOWS   0/1517
WWB_SYSOP   0/419
WWB_TECH   0/810
ZCC-PUBLIC   0/1
ZEC   4

 
4DOS   0/134
ABORTION   0/7
ALASKA_CHAT   0/506
ALLFIX_FILE   0/1313
ALLFIX_FILE_OLD1   0/7997
ALT_DOS   0/152
AMATEUR_RADIO   0/1039
AMIGASALE   0/14
AMIGA   0/331
AMIGA_INT   0/1
AMIGA_PROG   0/20
AMIGA_SYSOP   0/26
ANIME   0/15
ARGUS   0/924
ASCII_ART   0/340
ASIAN_LINK   0/651
ASTRONOMY   0/417
AUDIO   0/92
AUTOMOBILE_RACING   0/105
BABYLON5   0/17862
BAG   135
BATPOWER   0/361
BBBS.ENGLISH   0/382
BBSLAW   0/109
BBS_ADS   0/5290
BBS_INTERNET   0/507
BIBLE   0/3563
BINKD   0/1119
BINKLEY   0/215
BLUEWAVE   0/2173
CABLE_MODEMS   0/25
CBM   0/46
CDRECORD   0/66
CDROM   0/20
CLASSIC_COMPUTER   0/378
COMICS   0/15
CONSPRCY   0/899
COOKING   27601
COOKING_OLD1   0/24719
COOKING_OLD2   0/40862
COOKING_OLD3   0/37489
COOKING_OLD4   0/35496
COOKING_OLD5   9370
C_ECHO   0/189
C_PLUSPLUS   0/31
DIRTY_DOZEN   0/201
DOORGAMES   0/1974
DOS_INTERNET   0/196
duplikat   5999
Möte EVOLUTION, 1335 texter
 lista första sista föregående nästa
Text 1204, 101 rader
Skriven 2004-12-29 06:21:00 av Wirt Atmar (1:278/230)
Ärende: Re: Exactly what are "rec
=================================


Malcolm writes, following Mike's assertion:

>> If someone wishes to clear understanding of recessiveness and dominance in
>> genetics then they will need to know a little bit more than simply the
>> meaning of 'gene'.
>>
>Our understanding of genetics is constantly developing. And "gene" is an
>important word that is in common use by non-scientists.
>
>There is no way of stopping someone from using the term "the gene for red
>hair", and by itself this does not necessarily indicate a misunderstanding.

Although the use of the term "the gene for red hair" may not be misunderstood
by the person using the phrase, it certainly promotes a misunderstanding in the
general population.

Almost invariably, when anyone speaks of a "gene for [fill in the blank]", the
"gene" is a defect (a defective variant of the instructions to properly build
some necessary component protein). The fundamental philosophical problem
underlying this misunderstanding is an attempt to too quickly assign causality
to a specific bit of code, particularly so in a system dominated by pleiotropy
(massive code re-use) and polygeny (many thousands of "genes" employed in the
construction of a single phenotypic feature), even if its use is just as
shorthand among professionals.

This assignment of casual credit or blame is a problem in all complex systems.
There is no way in the world to assign fitness values to the code that
specifies how a screw or a bolt is built and then say that *this* the code that
causes the airplane to fly. The function of flight is the result of the sum of
almost all of the individual blueprints that go into the construction of the
aircraft.

However the antithesis is possible. You can, with some accuracy, say that
*this* is the defective variant of the coding instructions (an "allele") that
causes a bolt to be mismanufactured and which subsequently results in the wing
falling off. The human tendency is then to call this a "gene for wing falling
off," but it's not true and it's a fundamental error to do so.

In complex systems, defects have very simple chains of causality, a simplicity
missing in the highly evolved, fully working system. When we don't know what
we're doing -- and we wouldn't call it "research" if we did -- we use these
simple chains of causality associated with defects as our means of exploring
the whole of the functioning system, but you can't take these explorations too
seriously. 

Professional biologists are often no better at this misuse than "civilians."
Medical geneticists have a pronounced tendency to speak of "oncogenes." When
the term first came into favor, the tendency was to say that these were
"cancer-causing genes." In recent years, I've noticed a more correct
redefinition of oncogenes, saying now that the gene, if mutated, has the
possibility of promoting neoplasia. Nevertheless, it remains a substantially
misleading term.

Mathematical genetics is perhaps even worse, institutionalizing the role of
defects and their simple causalities into its structure. If I had my way, I
would throw out almost all of the mathematics taught in genetics classes and
begin again, with a mathematics that more properly represents the informational
physics we now know to exist.

The fundamental problem is that if the nature of the "gene" is misrepresented,
a misrepresentation of the whole of the evolutionary process is unavoidable.
And such misinterpretations occur even among people who should know better.
Richard Dawkins wrote the following in his 1976 book, "The Selfish Gene:"

"Honey bees suffer from an infectious disease called foul brood. This attacks
the grubs in their cells. Of the domestic breeds used by beekeepers, some are
more at risk from foul brood than others, and it turns, out the difference
between strains is, at least in some cases, a behavioural one. There are
so-called hygenic strains which quickly stamp out epidemics by locating
infected grubs, pulling them from their cells and throwing them out of the
hive. The susceptible strains are susceptible because they do not practise this
hygenic infanticide... Rothenbuhler surmised that there might be two separate
genes, one gene for 'uncapping,' and one gene for ''throwing out'... This story
illustrates a number of important points... It shows that it can be perfectly
proper to speak of 'a gene for behaviour so-and-so'" (p. 64-66). 

Dawkins conclusion clearly misinterprets the nature of gene, after which he
goes on to derive a very strange philosophy around this misinterpretation,
"selfish genetics." As in all complex machineries, an infinity of failures may
bring the machine to a halt. The point failure of any single cog, sprocket, or
spring may be sufficient to cause the catastrophic failure of the entire
machine. But the inverse is clearly not true. No single sprocket, cog or spring
can generate complex behaviors as an isolated component. The more proper
question based on Dawkin's paragraph is: "It's clear that there exists at least
one single point failure that kills the hygenic infanticide response in
honeybees, but how many different genes, if defective, would do the same
thing?" The correct answer is probably hundreds.

This misrepresentation of genetic cause and effect permeates the professional
discussion, so if lay people are confused, we only have ourselves to blame.

Wirt Atmar
---
ū RIMEGate(tm)/RGXPost V1.14 at BBSWORLD * Info@bbsworld.com

---
 * RIMEGate(tm)V10.2á˙* RelayNet(tm) NNTP Gateway * MoonDog BBS
 * RgateImp.MoonDog.BBS at 12/29/04 6:21:24 AM
 * Origin: MoonDog BBS, Brooklyn,NY, 718 692-2498, 1:278/230 (1:278/230)