That's a laugh. The Evos have been frantically searching for a materialistic origin of life scenario ever since Darwin. Of course, all of their efforts have been in vain. So instead, they have been forced to begin with the MIRACLE OF LIFE, and then pretend that it built-up from the first proto-cell to the mindbogglingly complex organisms we see today via RANDOM MUTATIONS plus “natural selection.” Complete hogwash.
==Evolution: genetic change of a population in response to environmental pressure.
So do you consider creatures that utilize their frontloaded program to adapt to changing environmental conditions as part of evolution? If not, then INTELLIGENT DESIGN= THE FRONTLOADED ABILITITY OF ORGANISMS TO EFFECT GENETIC CHANGE IN RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURE.
==By suggesting that ERV’s act to increase genetic diversity and act to adapt a population to its environment you are signing on to them being an agent of evolution.
Wrong. I am signing on to them being an agent of God's intelligently designed creation.
==So is a population becoming better adapted to its environment evolution or de-evolution GGG? Is becoming better adapted to your environment “genomic degeneration”?
Random mutation almost always result in harmful genetic degeneration. I say almost always because there may occasional be some extremely trivial change that effects a benefit of some sort, but in virtually all cases, random mutations are harmful. This is even more evident now that we know that our genes are polycontrained.
==No, incorporation of an ERV is not extremely rare and it can be studied and even induced by infecting cells with an RNA virus.
I was not referring to incorporation in soma cells, I was specifically referring to germ cells.
==Despite your assertion that ERV insertion is all somehow preprogrammed and deterministic
I never used either word to describe insertion points. However, we do know that exogenous retroviruses prefer non-random hot spots. Surely you know this???
==So when a new ERV incorporates into a genome, does it immediately have a function? When would a newly incorporated ERV be said to have a function, and what function would it serve.
I believe ERVs and retroviruses were created with a purpose. And given all large scale functions we are finding for them, the purposes appear to be legion. However, I believe it is the frontloaded, organizing principle/software of the cell that decides what to do with them.
As for your old or young question, go back and reread my last reply.
Still no answer for if you consider adaptation to the environment “genomic degeneration” or “de-evolution”.
Your definition of “Intelligent design” is indistinguishable from evolution as defined by biologists. Of course living organisms are “front-loaded” with the ability to change their DNA in response to environmental pressure. And the based upon observation, the mechanism is through natural selection of genetic variation.
So you consider nucleotide substitution to almost always be detrimental, but you think ERV insertion or transposition is almost always of benefit to the organism in enabling it to adapt/evolve by changing it's DNA in response to environmental conditions? Why is it then that the actual changes we see in experimental populations to selective pressure are the result of nucleotide substitution and not from massive rearrangement of ERV’s?
So when would a newly incorporated ERV be said to have a function for the host genome? What function would you say that it served?