Re: reply to Benzon

From: William Benzon (bbenzon@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue 27 May 2003 - 23:06:21 GMT

  • Next message: Richard Brodie: "RE: reply to Benzon"

    on 5/27/03 6:13 PM, Richard Brodie at richard@brodietech.com wrote:

    > Bill Benzon wrote:
    >
    > <<Darwinism is, first of all, about random variation and selective
    > retention.
    > Replication is secondary and didn't enter the picture until Watson and
    > Crick.
    >
    > There are computer models indicating that Darwinian evolution can happened
    > without high-fidelity replication.>>
    >
    > How can you have "retention" without copying and replication? Retention of
    > what?

    Retention of successful phenotypic characteristics.

    >
    > What do you mean by "high-fidelity"? Without sufficient fidelity, how is
    > evolution different from randomness?

    We're talking about fidelity in the replication of genetic units. Unfortunately, I don't have citations readily at hand. I believe the work was done by Peter Richerson or one of his students. He's got a website packed with pubs; you should be able to find it by googling his name.

    BB

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