moore@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU (Andrew M. Moore) (05/14/86)
References: I am posting this for a friend; direct flames, comments and suggestions to Christopher Kelly :-) --cut here-- From our current understanding of genentic mutation it is evident that variation is random. On the level of molecular biology mutations arise from both environmental pressures and possibly cerebral activity. Backround radiation, for example, can vary, and can produce mutation - I do not know if the mutations that arise from from radiation are consistantly the same. On the level of cellular reproducation, genes are randomly assorted -- remember meiosis? All this appears, without doubt to be random. I could be wrong, however; I am not a biologist. -Christopher Kelly OAF.G.CHRIS%MIT-OZ@MIT-MC.ARPA ...mit-eddie!cjk@MIT-OZ