Re: [FRIAM] Daphnia's jeans

[Carl Tollander]

Perhaps it is the other way around.   That more complex structures and processes evolve as a consequence of some developmental ability to do ever more with less (where 'less' may mean less pre-specification).   While it may be an understatement that that would be kind of cool if it were so in general, it's also somewhat pejorative-worthy and it posits a mechanism for the emergence of such linkage, the explanation of which may lie beyond my pay grade, in one direction or another. Notice that framing things this way might change the questions at hand away from how I get some selection-advantage at a lower-level form of algorithmic complexity from having a smaller (or more compressed) genome. Carl On 2/4/11 2:33 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: I bet you somebody will post something in the next day claiming that humans have fewer genes because they have a larger brain “instead”.    I will pre-perjoratize that idea as crap.    Nick   From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Parks, Raymond Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 10:18 AM To: 'friam@redfish.com' Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Daphnia's jeans   That raises a number of interesting questions. 1. Is there more survival advantage in a higher number of genes or in a lower number of genes? On the one hand Daphnia has a 50% greater chance of random mutation from external factors - on the other hand, Daphnia has a 50% greater chance of absorbing damage without mutation. 2. Since Daphnia is a non-vertebrate I'm going to assume it's ancestors evolved long before man. Does this mean life has evolved from more genes to less? 3. I believe that good engineering is as much about removing what is unnecessary as adding to a design. Is this proof of good engineering in evolution? 4. Alternately (and this gets into complexity), is the _expression_ of genes in the living creature an emergent process? Does the number of genes have an effect on that emergence? Ray Parks   From: Nicholas Thompson [mailto:nickthomp...@earthlink.net] Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 08:33 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> Subject: [FRIAM] Daphnia's jeans   Message: 2 From: National Science Foundation Update <nsf-upd...@nsf.gov> Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 14:47:36 -0600 (CST) Subject: The Most Genes in an Animal? Tiny Crustacean Holds the Record The Most Genes in an Animal? Tiny Crustacean Holds the Record Thu, 03 Feb 2011 13:12:00 -0600 Scientists have discovered that the animal with the most genes--about 31,000--is the near-microscopic freshwater crustacean Daphnia pulex, or water flea. By comparison, humans have about 23,000 genes. Daphnia is the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced. The water flea's genome is described in a Science paper published this week by members of the Daphnia Genomics Consortium, an international network of scientists led by the Center for Genomics ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=118530&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click     Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ http://www.cusf.org     ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org