Strong evidence that topics can go off the rails

[colewd (Bill Cole)]

@Chris_Falter

I have no idea what you mean by “multiple origins using random change prior to selection,” or how one would build a model that can be tested using genomic sequence data. Could you explain how this alternative model would work mathematically, and how it could be tested using genomic sequence data?

The alternative model simply starts at different points. It eliminates having to mathematically explain the origin of new genes and complex biological structures generated by gene families. In reality population genetics starts from existing populations.

@Chris_Falter

No one has ignored Ewert’s proposal,

Who has rigorously tested Winston’s model as Michael Lynch proposed an alternative to Behe’s model?

@Chris_Falter

In addition, were you aware of the fact that Ewert conceded, at the outset of his paper, that his model could not deal with the vast majority of the evidential record in biology–namely, sequence data?

Yes.

The important data in biology for testing design vs common descent however is not historical. The gene data base is increasing dramatically. Genes are stronger representations of function than raw sequences.

@Chris_Falter

This is why biologists can get very frustrated when they deal with your claims, Bill. Your claims seem detached from the reality of what has transpired before your very eyes (robust debates with Ewert on this forum, Ewert’s concession of the great explanatory weakness of his model).

My comment was about methodological naturalism and not Winstons engagement on this forum.

@Chris_Falter

They in fact deal with sequential searches, Bill. They incorporate sequential search implicitly by using empirical observations of distribution of functional effects, empirical observations of selection gradients, and empirical observations of mutation rates. These all incorporate, at least implicitly, search/optimization “algorithms” in the domain of biology.

What is the mechanism in biology that does this? Is the claim that simply the sequence change will be directed by selection? Selection does not happen until some beneficial function arises. There is no empirical basis for believing that SNP’s from reproduction are directional on their own. Especially given the current paradigm is neutral theory.