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To: Nebullis
" Arguing against a totally random process is arguing a straw man."

"Totally random" as distinct from "partially random?" Like pregnancy, randomity is categorically "total." It is all-or-nothing.

Randomity, by its very definition, indicates the absence of fixed aim or purpose. Synonyms include chance, stray, casual, fortuitous, accidental, aimless, haphazard. To suggest that randomity may be "partial," ie. that planning, intention, design, is involved, is to make it no longer randomity.

251 posted on 02/04/2002 1:42:16 PM PST by Bonaparte
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To: Bonaparte
"Totally random" as distinct from "partially random?"

No, as distinct from locally random. For example, a certain region in the genome is particularly vulnerable to insertional mutations. But within that region, the insertion point is random.

256 posted on 02/04/2002 1:57:07 PM PST by Nebullis
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To: Bonaparte
"Totally random" as distinct from "partially random?" Like pregnancy, randomity is categorically "total." It is all-or-nothing.

In computers, we have something called pseudo-random with seed, which for all intents and purposes is random, but a statistical analysis of a large sample will eventually show non-randomness. Pure random is actually not too easy to achieve.

477 posted on 02/07/2002 4:14:00 AM PST by Quila
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