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If there's anything I've learned from software engineering, it's that ideas seem like good ideas until they're implemented. Something seems like a good gene to
by muzani 5y ago
If there's anything I've learned from software engineering, it's that ideas seem like good ideas until they're implemented. Something seems like a good gene to select for until 3 generations later where someone else has to deal with it.
The other thing that fascinates me is navel oranges. They're delicious, but they're sterile and come with defects (the navel). We're perfectly happy to deal with those defects because the benefits outweigh it. I wonder what defects come from radiation resistant supermen.
- winrid 5y agoIf the universe has any humor, they'd have the side effect of emiting around 3.6 roentgens.
- jl6 5y agoSoftware engineering teaches us to identify defects and fix them, which is all fine and proper when you fully understand the root cause and the impact of the fix. But eugenic "fixing" of genetic "bugs" is more akin to deleting a whole module because you think it caused an error message. Maybe the error message goes away, but maybe you'll find out later that module was doing something useful after all.
- galaxyLogic 5y agoI think it is that way, the output of genes is determined by what they do together, they all affect each other's function. This is possible because they evolved together and that is why they together are resilient against changes in the environment.. It is not like a program where flipping a single bit can crash the whole program.