To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 19:32:49 -0500
From: "Raymond O Recchia" <rrecchia@mailcity.com>
Subject: Re: computer virus
--I wrote: >> I read somewhere once that computer viruses >> are incapable of producing advantageous mutations on their own. Is this >> correct? If so, why not? Anyone have a reference? > >> Ray Recchia > Achaz wrote: >Computer viruses are incapable of producing any mutation on their own, unless >they are programmed to do so (but I am not aware of any computer virus which >does something like this). Computer viruses, which are computer programs, make >exact copies of themselves (clones), and there is virtually no error rate in >this process. > How low is 'virtually no error rate'? I believe the error rate for DNA reproduction in humans is something like one base pair per 1 million.
Ray Recchia
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