From: me22over7@gmail.com   
      
   On 23/02/2026 2:04 pm, Vincent Maycock wrote:   
   > On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 11:52:16 +1100, MarkE  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 23/02/2026 3:18 am, RonO wrote:   
   >>> On 2/22/2026 12:32 AM, MarkE wrote:   
   >>>> Evidence is emerging that Dawkins' "Mt Improbable" is not Mt Fuji but   
   >>>> rather "rugged in all directions" [1]. Neat textbook depictions give   
   >>>> way to the reality of a "lack of viable evolutionary pathways among   
   >>>> the major optima."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Beneficial mutations do not work together, rather, "individually   
   >>>> beneficial mutations are often mutually incompatible, leading to   
   >>>> ruggedness on the fitness landscape."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> This is at the molecular level with an empirically determined ribozyme   
   >>>> fitness landscape. The paper's conclusion?   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "Nevertheless, in the absence of such mechanisms, the emergence of a   
   >>>> globally optimal sequence is likely to result from chance events   
   >>>> rather than natural selection."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> An appeal to chance of this magnitude is a deal-breaker: "We can   
   >>>> accept a certain amount of luck in our explanations, but not too   
   >>>> much." (The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins)   
   >>>>   
   >>>> A similar situation applies for proteins: "...an emerging picture of   
   >>>> pervasive epistasis" within proteins [2].   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "Both types of interaction are rampant, but specific epistasis has   
   >>>> stronger effects on the rate and outcomes of evolution, because it   
   >>>> imposes stricter constraints and modulates evolutionary potential more   
   >>>> dramatically; it therefore makes evolution more contingent on low-   
   >>>> probability historical events..."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Note the "*more contingent on low-probability historical events*".   
   >>>>   
   >>>> While selection acts on the phenotype as a whole, molecular evolution   
   >>>> underlies the process.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> My prediction: this "emerging picture" will continue to build as   
   >>>> evidence against a foundation of Darwinian evolution.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> _______   
   >>>>   
   >>>> [1] Mapping a Systematic Ribozyme Fitness Landscape Reveals a   
   >>>> Frustrated Evolutionary Network for Self-Aminoacylating RNA   
   >>>> https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.8b13298   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "...optimization of activity over the entire landscape would be   
   >>>> frustrated by large valleys of low activity."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "Our results show that the experimentally determined ribozyme activity   
   >>>> landscape exhibits a degree of frustration, as individually beneficial   
   >>>> mutations are often mutually incompatible, leading to ruggedness on   
   >>>> the fitness landscape."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "...the inability to traverse the landscape globally corresponds to an   
   >>>> inability to restructure the ribozyme without losing activity."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "The ruggedness of the empirically determined ribozyme fitness   
   >>>> landscape reported here can be described by the Rough Mt. Fuji model,   
   >>>> which is a combination of a smooth 'Mt. Fuji' landscape and the random   
   >>>> House-of- Cards landscape...we suggest that the major [random] House-   
   >>>> of-Cards character found implies a substantial level of frustration,   
   >>>> consistent with the lack of viable evolutionary pathways among the   
   >>>> major optima."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "The frustrated nature of the evolutionary network suggests that   
   >>>> chance emergence of a ribozyme motif would be more important than   
   >>>> optimization by natural selection."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "It should be noted that mechanisms that favor greater genetic   
   >>>> diversity, such as recombination, gene duplication, or epistasis among   
   >>>> genes, could enable crossing of fitness valleys."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> That is, a familiar mandatory positive spin, but followed by their   
   >>>> real conclusion:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> "Nevertheless, in the absence of such mechanisms, the emergence of a   
   >>>> globally optimal sequence is likely to result from chance events   
   >>>> rather than natural selection."   
   >>>>   
   >>>> _______   
   >>>>   
   >>>> [2] Epistasis in protein evolution   
   >>>> https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26833806/   
   >>>>   
   >>>   
   >>> And Bumble Bees can't fly.   
   >>>   
   >>> Evolution by natural selection has been documented.  It happens and is   
   >>> happening.  You have to stop denying reality.  You have to be a nut job   
   >>> to deny that evolution by natural selection has happened and is   
   >>> currently happening.   
   >>>   
   >>> The reason to believe put up their recreation model to account for the   
   >>> evolution of the anoles lizards in the Caribbean on multiple islands.   
   >>> They claim that the new types of lizards are recreations of some   
   >>> original, and only look like they are related by descent with   
   >>> modification.  On islands with some difference in altitude of their   
   >>> coasts and highlands the lizards have evolved two different physical   
   >>> types, that differed from the coasts and highlands, along with other   
   >>> differences between islands.  What some researchers did was to cross the   
   >>> two types and make hybrids, and they released the hybrids onto an island   
   >>> that did not have anoles lizards.  The hybrids were intermediate in   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)