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It's just strange for me reading something like "I don't know anything about Dyson, but -proceeds to talk about Science-". I think you should know him, he's bee
by mnl 8y ago
It's just strange for me reading something like "I don't know anything about Dyson, but -proceeds to talk about Science-". I think you should know him, he's been around. Science is made by people, it's a good idea to get to know who they are and where they're coming from before judging what they're trying to say. Most of the outsiders of a field spout nonsense, but there are really smart people out there as well.
Yeah, in my book Freeman Dyson can say whatever he wants, he's earned it. Of course I'm not saying he's right, but I'll double check.
But he's a physicist!... well, at some point Biology has to be Physics, what else could it be?
- mistermann 8y agoI think OP's question was more along the lines of, if there is a controversy, it doesn't seemed to be contained within the article....so, is there actually a legitimate controversy on the topic and might it be found elsewhere? I don't think he could have possibly gone further out of his way to project politeness.
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- detaro 8y agoWhat's strange about asking a clarifying question about the contents of an interview being discussed, which is all the parent has done?
- ItsMe000001 8y agoMore revenge downvotes from you? I suggest you flag yourself - I don't think your self-voting using several accounts is acceptable here, or at least I would hope that it isn't.
- detaro 8y agoplease stop deleting and recreating comments. If you believe the parent is using sockpuppets, contact the mods at hn@ycombinator.com
- ItsMe000001 8y ago> It's just strange for me reading something like "I don't know anything about Dyson, but -proceeds to talk about Science- Would you please read? I did not say anything about the guy, only about the article in front of me! And I DO know my biology well enough to know that what was written in that article did not make sense! (Because it's actually taught at beginner level already so how can he claim to have said something "controversial")
- mnl 8y agoSo you think you know your Biology well enough after some edX courses... OK. Maybe if you had an actual degree you'd get the gist of Dyson's argument and your contribution would be more interesting. He's arguing that maybe genetic drift is more dominant than selection for small populations, and that small populations are not a bug, but a feature. A 30 second google search would have gotten you a Wikipedia page for the Kimura theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_theory_of_molecular_evolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_theory_of_molecular_ev... And yes, it's strange to me that some people dismiss very important scientists, don't have a problem with not even being familiar with their name, on top of being unable to find any relevant information by themselves, at the same time they feel entitled to make objections because they've watched some lectures on the internet. And can't even read themselves because that interview wasn't about no one considering drift before, just what's dominant in evolution. This uncalled redditization of HN is a waste of everybody's time. BTW, you should think twice before accusing people of using another accounts for I don't know what, because you're just making it up and being extremely unpleasant for no reason. Don't do this here.