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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=dstockhoff@verizon.net
href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net">David Stockhoff</A> </DIV>
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On 10/12/2011 4:23 PM, James Wynn wrote:<BR><BR>> > Well, just sharing
selected genes would not really make Silk a "son of <BR>> > Typhon". That
would be true of any cousin of Typhon or any chimpanzee <BR>> > (as Gerry
pointed out).</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><BR>> I have to remind myself sometimes that I am addressing a bunch of
<BR>> engineers. :D<BR><BR>> (1) Is percentage of shared genes the only
way to compare species? <BR>> Obviously not.<BR>> (2) If chimps and humans
are 99% the same, then that pretty much kills <BR>> that usefulness of that
viewpoint. Further, most of the 99% is junk, <BR>> rendering the figure
meaningless. Is there a biologist in the house?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But isn’t it you who is promulgating the view that the shared genes are
significant?</DIV>
<DIV><BR>> (3) If God walked the earth 10 generations ago, and I had some of
His <BR>> genes spliced in so that I could throw thunderbolts, you can be
damn <BR>> sure I'd call myself the Son of God and throw thunderbolts at you
if you <BR>> gave a peep. And so would you. "Cousin" would not do it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Leadership skills are not a special ability distinct from the abilities of
the human race in general, as the ability to shoot thunderbolts would be.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>When we attach significance to someone being related to another person, we
are talking about large constellations of genes. If somebody has Typhon’s
nose, and we suspect he is related to Typhon, we take account of it because we
imagine he may have many characteristics of Typhon, not just the nose. If
we knew that Typhon was so proud of his nose that he had his nose-shape genes
injected into countless embryos, the matter would be much less interesting –
just a nose shape, not Typhon’s nose-shape.</DIV>
<DIV><BR>> Point being, Silk has some of Typhon's superiority, if we accept
this <BR>> theory. Naturally, if you don't think Typhon is in any way
superior, <BR>> this doesn't work so well---you would indeed be talking about
mundane <BR>> traits.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Leadership is not quite as mundane as blond hair, but it is not that
rare. Indeed, I’d expect that if if indeed there are ponderable genes for
leadership – a questionable matter given that it must depend strongly on nurture
as well as nature – there are multiple gene complexes, and Typhon’s technicians
would probably have used different combinations in different embryos.</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face="Times New Roman">>
</FONT><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face="Times New Roman">> 2)
Why, when asked about Silk's "</FONT>ancestry" did Wolfe say "he was the
<BR><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face="Times New Roman">>
</FONT>> son of the Calde and his mistress"? His ancestry would move a step
<BR><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" face="Times New Roman">>
</FONT>> back beyond Typhon.<BR><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"
face="Times New Roman">> </FONT>Ah, well. Some things are inexplicable.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Maybe Wolfe was just indicating that Silk’s genetic parents are basically
irrelevant to the story. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
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