tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post2688422573154229897..comments2024-02-29T03:57:00.088-05:00Comments on The Mermaid's Tale: An apt description for how life works is: Slop! Part IAnne Buchananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-74978524129505113962012-09-29T14:38:34.079-04:002012-09-29T14:38:34.079-04:00While the rules of physics can seem neat and linea...While the rules of physics can seem neat and linear, on paper, they are not, at least while in action. There are too many variables and possibilities and slop is the general result. <br /><br />It was Newton's mathematical + reductionist genius that cut through most of the mush, setting a tone of abstraction that others could follow. <br /><br />Today when most of the rules have been delineated, physics looks neater on paper than in reality. Like in engineering, for instance, where the lean, mean rules are wrapped in multiple layers of comfort clothing. They call them safety factors, which is slop by another name. <br /><br />In chemistry and biology, with the number of variables simply greater, and the comparative absence of reductionist geniuses getting attracted to it, (tough work) it is reasonable to expect the job to be a trifle tougher. <br /><br />Darwin, for instance, so much a real observation oriented biologist, yet one swayed by the easy success of reductionist geological and physics ideas, eager to see if they would apply. Which makes his "origin of species" book more scrumptious dialogue than sparse scientific treatise. <br /><br />Take heart, one of these days we will exit the slop, the geniuses of biology are yet to be. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16690355833316756895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-37340954658642197672012-03-28T14:52:54.663-04:002012-03-28T14:52:54.663-04:00Drift and selection are not necessarily hierarchic...Drift and selection are not necessarily hierarchical relative to each other. An individual's reproductive success depends on its 'fit' to the risks and opportunities in its circumstances, plus luck (the chance aspects of reproduction).<br /><br />In some situations selection could be a strong effect that over-rides the effect of drift, and by definition selection is non-drift so statistically that's what 'selection' means. But the relative impacts could be nearly the same when selection is very weak, as seems typical.<br /><br />As to 'living reactions' what we meant, perhaps badly phrased, is that interactions in life can have consequences and hierarchical effects (a genetic variant once lost from the population can't arise from the crypt), and developmental and other results of complex interactions generally don't really reverse (see upcoming post on Dollo's law). Life is a branching (hierarchical) pattern, not like the ideal gas law or gravity etc.Ken Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02049713123559138421noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-90226097491158888682012-03-28T14:24:21.635-04:002012-03-28T14:24:21.635-04:00Could you provide some example of "living rea...Could you provide some example of "living reactions"? <br /><br />Do genetic drift and natural selection belong? Is one hierarchical to another?caynazzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11263280738905977688noreply@blogger.com