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Is it Possible to Remove the Mutation Changes from Junk DNA?

08/09/2021 7:04 AM

I posted this comment on the "Longest Running Evolution Experiment" thread

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"if it transpired that those microbes were seeded by aliens"

A bit of a segue. If we assume that the first microbes with RNA and DNA on earth were seeded by aliens: then you can increase the number of "experimental explosions in a timber yard" by 4 hundred billion stars in a galaxy times a 100 billion galaxies times the ten billion years the universe existed before the solar system was born. (Maybe we need to multiply by trillions of universes which may exist, it could be that life only exists in one in a trillion universes, but then of course if we weren't here we wouldn't be thinking about it or discussing it.)

I wonder if we ought to be thinking about seeding planets in the goldilocks zone with microbes. People have already suggested seeding the atmosphere of Venus with microbes that would convert the atmosphere into something more acceptable to humans. Think about the progress we have made in the last century: in a million years or so we should be able to launch thousands of "micro" rockets; the payload would only need to be a milligram or so; they would need to sling shot off planets in the solar system and then planets of near by stars; after that they would need to calculate there own sling shots and they would need to seek out there own targets. It would be unethical to target planets more than 100 million years old (some debate needed) unless the probes could determine that there was no life present.

Again, think about the progress we have made in the last century: in a million years we will be able to edit the "junk code" in DNA easily, so we will be able to leave a message for any intelligent life form which becomes able to read it. Is anyone searching for coded messages in the junk DNA of of the most ancient microbes?

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I know nothing about DNA sequencing/analysis.

Would it be possible to compare and line up the junk DNA from several different sources in order to remove the mutation changes and get back the original junk code.

If there was a coded message in there, then it's reasonable to assume that the intelligence which created it wanted it to be read. I would start by looking for binary representations of pi and e (maybe √2, √3 etc.). Any other suggestions?

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#1

Re: Is it Possible to Remove the Mutation Changes from Junk DNA?

08/09/2021 8:28 AM

You could be on to something there. What goes on the internet pretty much stays on the internet. I suspect DNA might be about the same. There's nobody or no process to clean up what is no longer useful. (A lot like my desk used to be at work...)

So there might still be seeds of the original code if that is what really happened. What you would look for, I think, would be junk common to a wide variety of DNA.

It seems our environment is well suited to our life, but in reality, the reverse is true. Life survives by adapting to its environment. If we were to seed planets with an environment hostile to us, I'm guessing that the life introduced, if it survived, would start adapting to the environment it finds itself in. JMHO.

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#2

Re: Is it Possible to Remove the Mutation Changes from Junk DNA?

08/09/2021 4:50 PM

Nearly every cell in a person's body has the same DNA. ... The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people.Jan 19, 2021

https://www.washington.edu/news/2013/12/12/scientists-discover-double-meaning-in-genetic-code/

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#3
In reply to #2

Re: Is it Possible to Remove the Mutation Changes from Junk DNA?

08/10/2021 8:08 AM

When I said different sources: I meant from as diverse a set of life as possible (say human, fish, carrot, virus, bacteria, fungus).

It might be necessary to eliminate recent mutations by comparing say humans, gorillas, chimps and orangutans. Then compare the results with several nearby branches; etc. etc.

The process is a bit like multiple redundancy error correction.

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#4

Re: Is it Possible to Remove the Mutation Changes from Junk DNA?

08/10/2021 9:33 AM

Who has the wisdom, let alone the "knowledge" to determine if some particular sequence is "junk"? The book of Genesis says God made man in God's image. Ever since we have been trying to create god in our image. Look at the "advances" we have made in the last 100 or so years---too many have been found to be destructive or harmful. We mine the earth for our own gain and have left a lot of junk behind that is destroying most of the life forms on the earth.

Who has the wisdom, let alone the "knowledge"....

--JMM

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Re: Is it Possible to Remove the Mutation Changes from Junk DNA?

08/11/2021 5:52 AM

For the purposes of this discussion, and, any future investigative work, it doesn't matter whether the DNA is really junk or not. I'm just proposing analysing and aligning the DNA from several sources in order to edit out (in the digital copy) the mutation changes. Someone would then be able to look for messages in the code.

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#5

Re: Is it Possible to Remove the Mutation Changes from Junk DNA?

08/10/2021 7:56 PM

. . . but can Horton see the DNA?

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