Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Why is WikiPedia so slow?

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Thu, 5 Jan 2006, Vern Green wrote:

> > A better, more modern way of determining phylogenetic trees is to look 
> > at DNA similarities.  We are most like the chimp.
>
> OK Mike, but there is a study that says that a Chimps DNA is not nearly 
> as close as was orginally suspected. The 98% drops to 86% when compared 
> to one another directly.
>
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12799463&dopt=Citation

That's only the 1.8 megabase MHC region, which is a special region under 
strong selection pressure.  It's about 95% globally:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2278733.stm
http://taxa.epi.umn.edu/~mbmiller/journals/pnas/20021004online_Britten_chimp-human-DNA.pdf
http://taxa.epi.umn.edu/bgnews/2004/msg00123.html


> Interestingly, having similar genomes does not necassarily mean they are 
> from a common ancester.

Yes, it does mean that.


> http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/05_02/mouse_053102.shtml
>
> This report says that humans and mice are in many ways more related than 
> chimps and humans.

No, it doesn't say that.  In fact, the string "chimp" does not even occur 
in that article.  Have you really stooped to outright lying in an attempt 
to promote your religion?


> I guess this serves to point out that all life on this planet is built 
> very similarly and in a way everything is related to everything else. 
> Maybe that is the way God planned it all along.

It's the way evolution works.  Probably all living species (prokaryotes, 
plants, animals, fungi, viruses, etc.) are descended from one common 
ancestor.  Certainly all mammals share a common ancestor.  This offers no 
evidence for God.  It seems extremely unlikely that there is a "God" 
anywhere in this universe.  We know why people believe it and it clearly 
has nothing to do with evidence.  It has also become pretty obvious from 
discussions on this list that belief in God interferes with the ability to 
think logically about evolution and other issues that threaten the belief 
system.

Mike

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