leroy
Well-Known Member
Yes, destroying is easier, but that is not a concern. Gene duplication is a mutation where entire genes are copied. That enables a enzyme to be continued to be made while variations are "experimented" on. All it takes for a mutation to become part of the genome is a small improvement. Gene duplication allows that. It also leaves a lot of failures behind. That is why so much of our genome is "junk DNA". Experiments that did not work but were not harmful.
Mutations cause variability. That can be regarded as a loss of information. But natural selection reduces variability, which increases information again. In particulgene duplication *and subsequent* divergence adds information.
Actually, we have seen bacteria evolve that can consume nylon, which is a new ability brought about through a mutation. Would you consider that an increase of information?
You misunderstand what happens with mutations. Most mutations in the genetic code have little effect on the proteins the code for. When they do alter the protein it does not mean the enzyme or protein is lost only altered in how it functions. This could make it work better or become less functional. If the mutation helps in survival of the organism it will continue. This has nothing to do with gaining new proteins/enzymes. To create new proteins new insertions of genetic material has to be added, which there are many ways for that to happen. then the new genetic sequence would also be slowly modified and clearly takes longer before a new peptide sequence could form a new protein that has a function. You need long periods of time which we have had in Earths history to create the complexity we have today.
Ok but natural selection doest " try " to create new information nor to create more complex organisms, it only "tries" to produce individuals that would survive. If a loss of information or a decrease in complexity happens to be benefitial natural selection would select it
We have seen examples of new information (increase in complexity) that have been selected by natural selevtion, and we have seen examples of a loss of information that have been selected by natural selection........your burden is to show that the second is more common than the first. You have to show that on average organism are more likely to gain information/complexity rather than loading it.
If complexity on average increases by random mutations and natural selection, then it makes sense to assume that we came from simpler organisms, who became more complex as a result of random mutations and natural selection.
If complexity tends to decrease, then simple bacteria-like organisms, would never evolve in to more complex life forms.
So your burden is not to show that that complexity increases every once in a while, your burden is to show that an increase of complexity is the trend.
To prevent any word games; with complex I mean "complicated" as described by Dawkins in the blind whatch maker.
Dawkins explains the concept of complicated in 3 pages (start reading from this sentence)
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw1Vf_gKWQ9k1a_XmF4UKD7KSo, what is a complex thing? How should we recognize it? .....