Genome complexity: de novo or orphan genes (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, August 27, 2015, 14:44 (3377 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: Many thanks for some very interesting threads, and in particular for this one. For me it raises the whole image of the macrocosm in the microcosm. If new genes can spring from nowhere and incorporate themselves into existing structures, wouldn't this mirror the whole process of innovation that drives evolution? The Cambrian Mystery is solved if new structures can emerge from nowhere.-But your comment does not answer the problem: "Genes from nowhere" are caused by what mechanism? Noting their arrival opens up questions, not answers.
> 
> dhw: Theistic evolution? Are you going to tell us that God plans every novel gene? Or might it be that God invented a mechanism that comes up autonomously with an infinite number of novelties? Or might it even be that there is no single mind there at all, but billions of little minds within billions of globules of matter coming up with billions of new combinations? Ah, my friend the intelligent cell....-Can intelligence grow from no intelligence? If the first life had intelligence where did it come from, abiogenesis? That is a proposed chance happening.