[ExI] Tim May and DNA

[Stuart LaForge]

Quoting Stuart LaForge <avant at sollegro.com>:

> Quoting John Clark:
>
>> On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 12:31 PM Stuart LaForge <avant at sollegro.com> wrote:
>>> If you look at what percentage of the human genome is conserved across 
>>> different individuals, then it is only 20% of the genome.
>>
>> I don't know where you got that figure, with the exception of the  
>> cheetah there is very little genetic diversity among humans  
>> compared with other mammals, "All human beings are 99.9 percent  
>> identical in their genetic makeup":
>> https://www.genome.gov/19016904/faq-about-genetic-and-genomic-science/
>
> Right, that conserved 20% is 99.9%  identical between individuals.  
> That is what "conserved" means in this context. When I was in grad  
> school, it was generally accepted that 80% was junk and 20% was  
> conserved. I got 20% because 100% - 80% = 20%. The point is that the  
> differences in the DNA between any two random randomly chosen  
> individuals is likely to reside almost entirely in the junk portion  
> of their DNA.

Actually I am wrong here and John is right. Biologists throw around  
these percentages all the time without elucidating their contexts and  
it can get annoying. Also my memory is not what it used to be. :-(

Stuart LaForge