undefined | Better HN

0 pointsAllegedAlec8y ago0 comments

> repeat the experiment 100 billion times and you might see 1+ billion different solutions

You won't, though. There has been some excellent research on this done by amongst others Burmeister and Meyer in the Lenski group. Evolution is 'channelled' into certain solutions by its previous history and the process of co-evolving with other species.

0 comments

Retric8y ago

That simply means some solutions are more probable than others, but there is a very long tail. Or at least as extrapolated from computer simulations.

AllegedAlecOP8y ago

Sure. It's still a game of chance. However, evolution is not random in the purest sense. Evolution itself skews the distribution of the kind of mutations you see.

For example: on of the papers by the Lenski labs show that the lambda phage evolves a certain defense mechanism very reliably in duplicated studies, despite it requiring several very specific mutations.

Retric8y ago

Random does not mean a uniform distribution. Toss 2 six sided dice and 2's and 12's are uncommon. But it's still a random process.

Also, saying you often get some set of mutations may be likely if subsets of those mutations provide advantages or there is some process that makes those mutations more likely.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

Retric8y ago

That simply means some solutions are more probable than others, but there is a very long tail. Or at least as extrapolated from computer simulations.

AllegedAlecOP8y ago

Sure. It's still a game of chance. However, evolution is not random in the purest sense. Evolution itself skews the distribution of the kind of mutations you see.

Retric8y ago

Random does not mean a uniform distribution. Toss 2 six sided dice and 2's and 12's are uncommon. But it's still a random process.

Also, saying you often get some set of mutations may be likely if subsets of those mutations provide advantages or there is some process that makes those mutations more likely.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse