You are nitpicking, nevertheless, newborn, noun, a baby that was born recently [1], hence the 99.99999+% figure is applied for the full term pregnancies, once the fetus is decoupled from the mother and has been born as a, well, newborn.

[1] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/newborn#...

I'm not nitpicking - I'm saying the reason most babies are born with 2 legs hands and a head is because genetic defects die off before birth (plus the screening we have for early termination nowadays) - and the failure rate starting from a single cell is huge.

The genetic defects failure rate is irrelevant, TSMC also throws away bad batches [1], mistakes happen, life is complex and multifaceted, etc. The issue is if biology is a deterministic computational platform, and the argument I was making, using the hyperbolic figure of 99.99999%, I will grant you this, is that not only biology is a deterministic computational platform, but it is better than the one we can achieve currently in our CPUs: no CPU is able to regenerate a melt down core, axolotls can grow back a limb as if it was never gone.

[1] https://www.anandtech.com/show/13905/tsmc-chip-yields-hit-by...

"But at that point your argument is almost tautological"

Yes, that is the point: biodevelopment is deterministic and computational. Watch the Michael Levin video linked above: they cut the head of a planarian worm, it grows back a head; they cut the tail, it grows back a tail; they cut the tail and the head and change the bioelectric gradients, it grows back two heads or two tails.

But at that point your argument is almost tautological - all children born alive are fit to survive ? Being born with such huge asymmetry (missing limbs) and still surviving is low probably (impossible without a head).

I'd say a more convincing argument for deterministic machinery is identical twins - I don't know how much variation there is to put in numbers.

"But at that point your argument is almost tautological"

Yes, that is the point: biodevelopment is deterministic and computational. Watch the Michael Levin video linked above: they cut the head of a planarian worm, it grows back a head; they cut the tail, it grows back a tail; they cut the tail and the head and change the bioelectric gradients, it grows back two heads or two tails.

Don't forget the 0.5% infant mortality rate

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/infant-health.htm

Number of infant deaths: 19,582

Deaths per 100,000 live births: 541.9

Leading causes of infant deaths:

– Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities

– Disorders related to short gestation and low birthweight: not elsewhere classified

– Sudden infant death syndrome