Re:Making the Mind: Why we've misunderstood the nature-nurtu...
by jhedwards on Monday September 30, 2019 @01:56PM
(#21117955)
The article presents this idea specifically because it is incorrect, and goes on to explain the newer, more accurate understanding of genes, which is (as far as I understand it) that they encode various options and patterns that can be leveraged by the organism in different situations, not a rigid plan to be executed by the cells.
Re:Making the Mind: Why we've misunderstood the nature-nurtu...
by asdaddasdad on Monday September 30, 2019 @04:16PM
(#21119288)
I don't understand why that is supposed to be a "new understanding". I think it was the understanding all along (or at least most of the time).
Isn't even the famous moth that changed color in the early days of the industrial evolution an example? I think it carries both genes (for black and white expression), and they get triggered depending on the environment during development. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppered_moth_evolution
I could be wrong about the moth, but certainly, genes that are only expressed depending on environment are common knowledge.
Yes, even regardless of other examples you have provided, that's just basically bad poor logic in the article? Why would anyone assume that the number of connections of neurons would need to linearly relate to the number of genes describing them? What if a couple of genes describe a process that is then repeated for a billion times during development?