/sci/ - Science & Math

Can you predict which gene will mutate? Tell me which cell on your body will be the next to mutate.

How accurately can you predict the outcome if you roll a 20-sided die?
You might be able to say it will land on a number somewhere between 1-20 but it is still random.

Also, the mutation is random, the selection is not.

>>2339774
Mutation's sources are predictable and known, but what their result will be and where/when they will happen is largely chance. The only way to predict this kind of thing would be to predict every atom, cosmic ray, superstring, et. al. in the universe... Which histone of which cell will be unwound enough to expose its DNA to be hit by a particle so it mutates? In what way will it mutate? Nobody can accurately predict that shit, so it's called random.

It isn't random because God chooses which one to mutate.

>>2339797
OK, so the ability to predict which gene will mutate is essentially knowable in principle, but very unlikely to be known in practice. Since it is so hard to know which gene will mutate, we call it random.

>>2339774
Not a great answer.

Not hard to get "true random" mutations. Cosmic rays interact with the atoms in the atmosphere, producing large numbers of new particles moving in random directions. Where they hit you cannot be predicted given the initial state vector of the universe.

Statistical variability OP.

The reason it may seem not to be random is because we can only observe the actual outcome.

>>2339920
Can you say this in a simpler way?

The mutation alters the code of the DNA, and how this will manifest in the organism is pretty damn hard to anticipate because reading DNA is not easy. And predicting which part of the molecule is going to mutate is even harder.

The pattern is unpredictable by us - therefore we call it random.

>mfw people debate about whether God exists or not via how real evolution is or isn't

>>2340012
OK, so it's not TRUE randomness, but rather it is extremely high levels of uncertainty due to the inherently complicated nature of DNA.

Can someone explain to me how mutations occur?

>mfw when you believe the latter is actually debatable

>>2340019
OP here, you clearly have not read my posts. I am already an atheist and I just want to know how evolution works on particular issues. I just didn't understand how randomness occurs in genetic variation. Please read a thread before posting any rage.jpg's.

Mutations are random.
Natural selection of which mutations are passed on or die out is not random.

>>2339756
There are no scientifc debate on Intellegent design.

Intellegent design is bullshit, and it is not science. There are no scientific papers or literature on it, there is no concrete hypothesis or theory about it. Intellegent design is like me saying time-cube is a scientifc theory....LMAO.

Do not argue with the trolls (Intellegent design retards). Just ignore them. You cannot aruge logically to someone who has faulty logic.