parsimony/biology

[Zden�k Sk�la]

"Zdenìk Skála" wrote:
>> Moreover, the phylogenetic events are largely believed to be unique (in
>> contrast to car accidents); hence the impossibility to gather independent
>> information.
>Gee, I thought *all* events were unique.  Once it occurs, it's in the past
and
>can never occur again.
Sure; see my note in the earlier posting:
"...so can "simulate" the situation again and again and so get the
independent
information with a sufficient confidence (yes, strictly say it is inadequate
as well - any number of repetitions does not imply that the past event was
necessary the same)."

>And, I don't believe it is "impossible to gather
>independent information."  All events occur in a spatio-temporal context
and
>there are infinite other events happening simultaneously.  We find evidence
of
>many of these events and look for a "pattern" that suggests some common
>causality.
As usual in the "process-from-pattern" induction - pattern can suggest some
common causality but only in the sense that it makes some classes of
underlying processes more acceptable than others. Unfortunately, many quite
believable processes still remain which are all more or less supported by
the extant character pattern. Simply - the common "spatio-temporal context"
is not a condition restrictive enough to give us "right"
phylogeny-reconstruction methodology.
Best!
Zdenek Skala



---
Odchozí zpráva neobsahuje viry.
Zkontrolováno antivirovým systémem AVG (http://www.grisoft.cz).
Verze: 6.0.231 / Virová báze: 112 - datum vydání: 12.2.2001