[FRIAM] Randomness and Andreas Wagner

[Prof David West]

"it supports .... the notion that randomness is a funny kind of concept
... genomic innovation." But it is funny in a particular way: Nature
can roll the dice all she wants, but the game is rigged - it is
actually quite difficult not to "hit a winner" with any given roll of
the dice. Were the game not rigged in this particular way truly random
changes would have a near zero possibility that the 'innovation' would
be viable.
davew


On Thu, Aug 17, 2017, at 10:19 AM, Nick Thompson wrote:
> Dear All,


>  


> For some reason, somebody was pressing on us the Andreas Wagner book.
> So now I have it and have scanned it, but I have forgotten why I am
> reading it.  It seems a reasonably good summer of contemporary
> Epigenetics, on a par with Sean Carroll’s work.   It stresses the
> robustness of the epigenetic system, as it should.   It supports
> rather than undermines the notion that randomness is a funny kind of
> concept to apply to genomic “innovation”.>  


> Am I missing something? 


>  


> Nick


>  


> Nicholas S. Thompson


> Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology


> Clark University


> http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/


>  


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