RTB questions human chromosome 2

[swamidass (S. Joshua Swamidass)]

@AJRoberts

If I were him, I would have no interest in engaging in an echo chamber of repeated lies, false statements, and ad hominem comments.

@AJRoberts I want to emphasize that several people asked @Patrick to back down. This is not an echo chamber. You are and will be treated fairly here. Sometimes there will be mistakes and errors made. The goal is to settle it in dialogue.

@AJRoberts

He has acknowledged previous failures of the RTB model and modified the model appropriately. This is a hallmark of science. Every model is modified over time in light of new data and discoveries.

@AJRoberts is absolutely right here. Rana has acknowledged places they had it wrong. A key example is Sapiens interbreeding with Neanderthals:

@swamidass

The RTB Model #1

I had defined the RTB model as follows. This, however, is best described as Hugh’s first model, the one that appears in “Who Was Adam?” Edition 1.

@swamidass

RTB Model #2

Then there was a change, that @otto pointed too, where Rana and Ross came appreciate and accept the evidence for Neanderthal-Sapien interbreeding. This means that RTB #1 is not really their current model, and we need to careful about not misrepresenting them. They changed the model in Edition 2 of their book, to include Neanderthal-Humans interbreeding as bestiality.

To their credit, they have changed their position based on evidence. Also, here, you can see another adjustment by @AJRoberts.

@AJRoberts

@swamidass , please correct me if I’m wrong. You say, “With all due respect, coalescence does not imply a bottleneck.” Ok. Great. But, isn’t it true that if there was a genetic bottleneck you would also observe data that points to a coalescent signal? The two are not in contradiction to each other.

This was in response to a direct correction I made to a claim by Rana on @purposenation. I do disagree with many things in the RTB model. However, I also believe that there is a basic desire to get things right at RTB. To the extent that they will let me, it is my aim to help them in that goal. I’m sure there will still be disagreements at the end of the day. Those disagreements, however, might not be so large.