WK writes:
I'm pretty sure Perry would categorise all of those intermediate changes as 'fatal' mutations, even though you have done the first thing he said was impossible.
Probably, but his description is also misleading and problematic regarding how mutations could occur, and he provides an example that intentionally produces non-sense words at every step:
Perry writes:
Let's try it, one mutation at a time:
Brown > Brorn > Brorb > BrorW > qrorW > qKorW > qKoJW > qKoyW > qFoyW > qjoyW > qjTyW
After 10 mutations we didn't have a single letter remaining.
Our only hope is some kind of "punctuated equilibrium" where big jumps happen all at once. What's the chances of evolving Brown > Black in one step?
I didn't quite do it in 10 mutations, but I did manage to "mutate" brown > black using standard words at each step, and using only single nucleotide changes (including indels) and a single inversion:
1. brown
2. drown
3. drawn
4. draw
5. ward
6. word
7. work
8. cork
9. cock
10. clock
11. block
12. black
This took me all of a minute or so. I wonder why Perry would neglect to include such an easy and obvious example?
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