[betty boop]

There is probably another point that needs to be evidenced by science - namely, that such information is passed on by reproduction. I suspect most investigators assume this, but it ought to be subjected to testing, and I have seen no such evidence.

Isn't this idea of heritability somehow related to Lamarckianism? If so, it's already been tried and found wanting. But then, maybe there's a new way to take a go at the general idea???

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for all your wonderfully engaging posts! I always find myself agreeing with you!

I said: There is probably another point that needs to be evidenced by science - namely, that such information is passed on by reproduction. I suspect most investigators assume this, but it ought to be subjected to testing, and I have seen no such evidence.

You said: Isn't this idea of heritability somehow related to Lamarckianism? If so, it's already been tried and found wanting. But then, maybe there's a new way to take a go at the general idea???

I believe Lamarck's theory was that learned behavior could be passed on through reproduction. That would be a message, like DNA.

What I'm speaking of is not any message itself nor the mechanism which supports successful biological communication (information). The life is not "in" either of these.

The life is in the communicating within the cell and between the cell and its environment, i.e. the "information" (Shannon paraphrased as successful communication).

My thinking is that - as a matter of protocol - the investigators ought to prove that the communicating is passed along through reproduction and is not "jump started" in each new cell.