"not"-lonely Dan Janzen

[Richard Pyle]

Thanks, Ken.

>      But let me emphasize that the information gap problem varies
> greatly from group to group.  In the Diptera, the gap will be
> largely filled in a decade or less, as molecular sequences (and
> whole genomes) become available.

I certainly agree with the first sentence above.  As for the second
sentence, I just want to underscore something that I might not have made
clear in previous posts about my perspective on this stuff.  Simply having
whole-genome sequences of all relevant species does NOT provide the answer.
In my first post, I emphasized the two-part "EXTRACT and INTERPRET" point;
later represented as "technology and intellectual fortitude".  I suspect
that we're a lot closer to being able to quickly generate whole-genome
sequences for organisms, than we are to being able to "read" the embeded
phylogenetic information contained within those sequences.  Those algorithms
are a long way off, as far as I can see (but still within my optimistic 3-4
decades perspective -- I'm relying largely on the continuation of Moore's
Law here...)

Aloha,
Rich

=======================================================
Richard L. Pyle, PhD
Ichthyology, Bishop Museum
1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI 96817
Ph: (808)848-4115, Fax: (808)847-8252
email: deepreef at bishopmuseum.org
http://www.bishopmuseum.org/bishop/HBS/pylerichard.html