Subject: Re: Conference: Loebner and his prize From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 08 Nov 2002 15:48:17 +0000 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3245759297195333@naggum.no> * Russell Wallace | You said: "It is entirely random (as far as survival pre-disaster is | concerned) which factor allows individuals to survive the disaster". I | took this to mean, in paraphrase: there is no feature of the world prior | to the disaster that would have led specifically to adaptations preparing | for it. I then pointed out that in most cases, the harmful phenomenon | will have occurred in previous generations, so when it comes around for | the Nth time, the population will have adapted to it. What an odd interpretation and so entirely out of context. The point is that most mutations, which occur naturally and all the time, do not kill individuals and neither do they specifically cause them to survive. A host of variations survive. Which factors then let individual survive an illness, disaster or other catastrophe is unpredictable beforehand. -- Erik Naggum, Oslo, Norway Act from reason, and failure makes you rethink and study harder. Act from faith, and failure makes you blame someone and push harder.