Re: SCI:BIO: raw genome length not a good measure of organism complexity

Michael Lorrey (retroman@tpk.net)
Wed, 15 Jan 1997 00:01:22 -0500


> [Eliezer]
> > So if 90% of it is comments, unused code, or padding, who cares? The
> > amount of data needed to assemble a soul still has an upper limit
> > smaller than my hard drive... even if all that extra DNA is being used
> > by neurons, which I understand are now supposed to be capable of reading
> > (though, thank God, not altering) DNA.
>

First off, I am not my DNA. It is what made me possible, but I have
become far more than the sum of that code. My DNA has only taken me as
far as Darwinian evolution could take me, up to somewhere between birth
and a few years of age. Since then my immersion in the memetic soup of
our civilization has induced a Lamarckian evolution of my being,
accelerated by my practice of the scientific method, the exercise of
reason, and the interaction of my peers (its all your fault!). A wolf
boy with a 200 IQ is still an ignorant savage living off his genes. I
and my fellows here have transcended far beyond that point.

-- 
TANSTAAFL!!!

Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ President retroman@tpk.net Northstar Technologies Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com Inventor of the Lorrey Drive Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com

Website: http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/ Now Featuring: Mikey's Animatronic Factory http://www.tpk.net/~retroman/animations.htm My Own Nuclear Espionage Agency (MONEA) MIKEYMAS(tm): The New Internet Holiday Transhumans of New Hampshire (>HNH) ------------------------------------------------------------ Transhumanist, Inventor, Webmaster, Ski Guide, Entrepreneur, Artist, Outdoorsman, Libertarian, Arms Exporter-see below. ------------------------------------------------------------ #!/usr/local/bin/perl-0777---export-a-crypto-system-sig-RC4-3-lines-PERL @k=unpack('C*',pack('H*',shift));for(@t=@s=0..255){$y=($k[$_%@k]+$s[$x=$_ ]+$y)%256;&S}$x=$y=0;for(unpack('C*',<>)){$x++;$y=($s[$x%=256]+$y)%256; &S;print pack(C,$_^=$s[($s[$x]+$s[$y])%256])}sub S{@s[$x,$y]=@s[$y,$x]}