“Maybe it tries to adapt by matching its code to the feedback of the new environment. Maybe it knows what it’s looking for once it has found it, and thus must down-regulate repair so this strategy does not defeat itself.” GGG
So your admitting that increasing mutation rates and decreasing mutation repair could “match its code to the feedback of the new environment”. Wow. An admission that mutation of DNA could stumble upon a solution to stress such that life could adapt itself to a new environment.
Are you really suggesting a single cell is self aware in that it “knows” anything?
A cell “knows” when mutations have solved its stress problems because it has a marked advantage over its cohorts who do not share that mutation. It is called natural selection. That is how it “knows”.
And yes, it down-regulated mutation repair because the entire point of increasing mutation rates to arrive at a solution to the stress is worked against by repairing the mutations.
So now your admitting that mutations can adapt an organism to a new stressful environment? Why else would a cell respond to stress by deliberately increasing its mutation rate?
==So your admitting that increasing mutation rates and decreasing mutation repair could “match its code to the feedback of the new environment”. Wow. An admission that mutation of DNA could stumble upon a solution to stress such that life could adapt itself to a new environment.
What I am admitting actually goes against random mutation. For instance, the increase in mutation rates and decrease in mutation repair are initiated by design, not chance. Moreover, we still don’t know if the mutations themselves are random under these kinds of conditions. Maybe the processes that control these mutations are shuffling genes in much the same way as humans “shuffle” a Rubics Cube.
==Are you really suggesting a single cell is self aware in that it “knows” anything?
Who knows? One thing is for sure...something knows something. And whether this something has direct knowledge or is programmed (or both) remains to be seen. What a fascinating field of research! (except for Darwinists).
==A cell “knows” when mutations have solved its stress problems because it has a marked advantage over its cohorts who do not share that mutation. It is called natural selection. That is how it “knows”.
I’m not discounting that what we call “natural selection” plays a part. But then again, how does the cell “know” when it has adapted to the environment? How did it “know” that it was out of synch with the environment in the first place? Maybe we should call this process unatural-natural selection.