From: M. E. Smith (mesmith@rocketmail.com)
Date: Thu Mar 02 2000 - 08:23:27 MST
> I haven't read the background material for the above
> post and unless several someones say it is worth
> looking at I don't intend to.
Ok, you can keep count. I think the outline is worth
skimming, especially the beginning. That would take
you
about a minute or so.
> Thanks for the reference! This is one of the most
> fascinating things I've seen in ages!
That sounds like another "yes" vote.
> Was the article incorrect when it stated that they
> have gotten buckeyballs to function as waves? And it
> claims they are similiar in diameter to DNA (not of
> course in length :-).
The article is not incorrect about experiments in
which
buckeyballs display wave-particle duality. Of course,
the two-slit experiment (shooting things through a
vacuum at two slits) is rather far removed from
conditions in the cell.
HOWEVER, as the outline points out, it is only certain
small sections of a DNA molecule which need to
experience quantum effects for quantum evolution to be
a possibility, not the entire molecule, and the scale
involved is similar to scales in which quantum effects
have long been known to effect chemistry, with
molecular structures of molecules being a
superposition of two or more possible structures.
> I'm rather sceptical; there are other possibilities
> for how adaptive mutations could be favored
I'm glad Anders brought that up, because quantum
evolution's potential to be one explanation for
adaptive mutations is one of the reasons why it's
worth looking into. Of course, many
still dispute the evidence that adaptive mutations
exist.
(If quantum evolution survives scrutiny and becomes
widely accepted, the scientists who steadfastly denied
that adaptive mutations were taking place will quietly
change their minds, usually without admitting they
were wrong.)
=====
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