tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post8742138121078999129..comments2024-03-28T08:57:53.180+00:00Comments on Darwinian Conservatism by Larry Arnhart: Darwinian Evolution in Four DimensionsLarry Arnharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-26955647199177833162010-02-22T22:10:53.368+00:002010-02-22T22:10:53.368+00:00No, RNA editing is very different from RNA interfe...No, RNA editing is very different from RNA interference. WIth RNA editing, there are RNA molecules which add nucleotides internally to mRNA, thus modifying the code. One could also bring up the addition of poly-A tails to mRNA as well, as the difference in tail length affect the number of copies of protein produced. Both are by definition epigenetic. I found it odd that neither were mentioned in what was otherwise a fairly exhaustive list.Troy Camplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16515578686042143845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-62269214132030303832010-02-22T12:09:42.830+00:002010-02-22T12:09:42.830+00:00Troy,
Jablonka and Lamb do include RNA interferen...Troy,<br /><br />Jablonka and Lamb do include RNA interference as an "epigenetic inheritance system" (132-37). Is that what you had in mind?<br /><br />LarryLarry Arnharthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-16242410459437615712010-02-22T06:54:01.974+00:002010-02-22T06:54:01.974+00:00I'm in the middle of reading this book myself ...I'm in the middle of reading this book myself and I have been finding it quite interesting. One could criticize them for not including all forms of epigenetics -- such as RNA editing -- but that doesn't detract from their work overall. As someone whose work involves spontaneous order theory, I am finding their ideas quite compatible with that theory of social evolution. <br /><br />So far in the book they also do not talk about the fact that there are brain proteins that rearrange in the same way as immunoglobulins. That is an incredibly important fact that affects our ideas of intelligence, etc. and, therefore, the products of ou4r brains, meaning our social and symbolic environments.Troy Camplinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16515578686042143845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-60149409862195899202010-02-22T02:47:18.672+00:002010-02-22T02:47:18.672+00:00Darwin is an important historical figure, and an e...Darwin is an important historical figure, and an excellent English author. He's worth reading.<br /><br />But if we're talking about doing science, Darwin alone doesn't cut it. No matter how Dr. Arnhart argues it, science is an ongoing process (a process in some ways contradictory to a conservative mindset). We shouldn't "revere" Darwin. We should revere the process by which we come to scientific understanding. That process is not through continual reading and re-reading of Darwin alone.<br /><br />Darwinian Natural Right is going to have to be a Natural Right theory unlike any other because it's going to have to be based on the modern findings of the evolutionary sciences. It must therefore be flexible, open to change and modification, open to revision, and willing to regard truth as tentative. It must evolve. Otherwise, it will become a fossil.<br /><br />The "truths" of science are a moving target, understood over time through a process. Darwin is just one figure in the history of that process. Perhaps Dr. Arnhart should change the name to "Evolutionary Natural Right."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-63096678608866335962010-02-21T23:01:47.973+00:002010-02-21T23:01:47.973+00:00No, the chemical modification in epimutation is no...No, the chemical modification in epimutation is not in the DNA itself but in the chromatin marking. Methylated DNA has a small methyl group attached to some of its bases. The pattern of methylation influences which regions of DNA are expressed. The different kinds of cells in the human body have the same DNA, but the different patterns of methylation regulate the expression of DNA.Larry Arnharthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14619785331100785170noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16355954.post-87222650748416248862010-02-21T20:40:20.843+00:002010-02-21T20:40:20.843+00:00"strands of DNA are chemically modified durin..."strands of DNA are chemically modified during development, and these modifications can be transmitted through reproduction."<br /><br />Isn't that a mutation?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com