My posts at Uncommon Descent
These are my opening posts at Uncommon Descent, in chronological order and slightly reviewed and edited for publication on this site. If you are interested in the discussions that followed, just click the UD link and you will be able to read all of them.
Defining Design:
My first OP, which tries to offer an objective and operational definition of design, in order to avoid any ambiguity in the following discussions.
Functional information defined:
Definitions, again. The fundamental concept of functional information:what it is, its different flavours, how it can be measured.
Is functional information in DNA always conserved? (Part one)
A very important concept. Conservation through long evolutionary times is a certain indicator of function. But does non conservation, or lower conservation, equal non function, or lower function? Here I argue that that is not always the case. Indeed, in many cases lower conservation could simply be an indicator of differentiated function, of changing functional constraints.
Is functional information in DNA always conserved? (Part two)
The discussion goes on.
Four fallacies evolutionists make when arguing about biological function (part 1)
There never was a part two. Indeed, when I tried to write about the fourth fallacy, ignoring the problem of the information connected to the procedures, I realized how big the subject was, and how many new aspects were daily added to the problem by the constant progress in epigenetics and bioinformatics. So, the problem of control of the procedures will have to wait for a future, deeper discussion.
An attempt at computing dFSCI for English language
An interesting application of the concept of Functional Information to English language, and more specifically to my favourite Shakespeare’s sonnet. Whatever critics may say, functional information can be computed, and this is a clear example of how to do it.
Antibody affinity maturation as an engineering process (and other things)
One of the most amazing examples of protein engineering can be found not in human science, but in a very complex biological process. The wonderful properties of the immune system, and how it solves the problems of basic search space and of bottom up engineering of antibody affinity after the first immune response.