“But basically, the 1 bit/generation bound is information-theoretic; it applies, not just to any species, but to any self-reproducing organism, even one based on RNA or silicon. The specifics of how information is utilized, in our case DNA → mRNA → protein, don’t matter.”
OK, and I’m familiar with information theory (less so with evolutionary biology, but I understand the basics) but I’m thinking that the 1 bit/generation bound is—pardon the pun—a bit misleading, since:
A lot—I mean a lot—of crazy assumptions are made without any hard evidence to back them up. (E.g., the “mammals produce on average ~4 offspring, and when they produce more, it’s compensated for by selection’s inefficiencies.”)
I’m still not convinced that we’re measuring in the right units. Some mutations do absolutely nothing (for example, if a segment of DNA translating to a UAU codon mutated into one translating to UAC), and some make a ridiculously huge difference. This kind of redundancy, along with many other factors, makes me wonder if we need to change the 1 bit by some scaling factor...
“But basically, the 1 bit/generation bound is information-theoretic; it applies, not just to any species, but to any self-reproducing organism, even one based on RNA or silicon. The specifics of how information is utilized, in our case DNA → mRNA → protein, don’t matter.”
OK, and I’m familiar with information theory (less so with evolutionary biology, but I understand the basics) but I’m thinking that the 1 bit/generation bound is—pardon the pun—a bit misleading, since:
A lot—I mean a lot—of crazy assumptions are made without any hard evidence to back them up. (E.g., the “mammals produce on average ~4 offspring, and when they produce more, it’s compensated for by selection’s inefficiencies.”)
I’m still not convinced that we’re measuring in the right units. Some mutations do absolutely nothing (for example, if a segment of DNA translating to a UAU codon mutated into one translating to UAC), and some make a ridiculously huge difference. This kind of redundancy, along with many other factors, makes me wonder if we need to change the 1 bit by some scaling factor...