Is there a difference between evolution and materialism?

[T_aquaticus]

@gbrooks9

I am notorious for my references to cosmic rays. But it is my general understanding that mutations (aka, the imperfect replication of the original genetic code) can be triggered by any factor promoting heat, cold, excess molecules of water, lack of water molecules… the list is endless. All Quantum and non-quantum factors are eligible causes.

Given the patterns we see, most mutations are caused by known biochemical pathways and not be ionizing radiation. For example, CpG mutations happen at a high rate and this is because of DNA methylation of the cytosines which makes them susceptible to deamination. A purine base is more likely to to be switched out by the other purine base because they are chemically similar and enzymes that copy DNA can sometimes mistake one for the other. Genetic recombination often occurs through homologous recombination where similar sequences in single stranded DNA stick to each other and form loops of DNA that result in interesting results when they are copied and joined together.

You may want to check out my thread on mutations in case you are interested. I try to describe the mutations as products of biochemistry and try to stay out of the ontological arguments surrounding randomness.

Mutations Are Consistent With Biochemistry

In a previous thread I discussed what science meant by random mutations and how this term is defined by experimental results and statistics. A lot of this work was done in the 1940’s and 50’s, and since then many new facts have been discovered in the field of genetics, such as the discovery of DNA. This gave rise to the field of molecular biology and allowed us to understand biology at the molecular scale. So what exactly causes mutations? We once again have to reiterate the the limited scope of science. What science can do is put forward hypotheses and see if the evidence is consistent with that hypothesis. What science can not do is make ontological statements about absolute truth. With that in mind, the next few posts will discuss the evidence that links mutagenesis (the production of mutations) with the biochemistry of the cell and why scientists aren’t simply assuming that mutations are caused by biochemistry.