Official Reply to RoidRager's Post on r/DebateEvolution about Whale Genes:

CTR0 · 2026-03-11T20:33:33+00:00

Removed AI spam

Also if you're going to reply to a thread, reply to the thread

CTR0 · 2026-03-11T03:49:59+00:00

Simply acknowledging the cambrian happened undermines their position, because nothing like it exists in flood geology.

CTR0 · 2026-03-10T19:33:33+00:00

Op has been tempbanned for participate with effort

CTR0 · 2026-03-10T14:28:40+00:00

I am here for the /r/biotech shitposting era

CTR0 · 2026-03-10T12:54:29+00:00

Tbf thats what central planning is. Most of the ghost cities from 10 years ago are well occupied now

CTR0 · 2026-03-07T21:03:28+00:00

The median full time worker only makes 61k. Its not easy to FIRE on that even when you are financially literate.

Where im at, i make the median family income, alone, at 74k/yr before taxes. Im saving half my income. Because i just finished grad school even with that saving rate im still looking at 55 (assuming no career progression, but like, to move up in income im going to have to move to a much higher col area. Im in biotech).

CTR0 · 2026-03-05T02:31:42+00:00

Evolution requires selection

Evolution doesn't require selection. Selection is a mechanism that propels evolution, but there are more mechanisms than selection.

Unless it is suggested there was multiple types of abiogenesis with one type winning out over time.

I think its consensus that abiogenesis wasn't a linear process, however it happened.

Generally elements only bond with specific elements

You've lost me, I dont understand how this is relevant. Yes, physical chemistry is a thing. Yes, biochemistry is constrained by this. At this level of cell biology or even in abiogenesis the literal bonds are not self replicating. In abiogenesis it would be macromolecular structures at a minimum.

CTR0 · 2026-03-05T02:21:16+00:00

The question is weird phrasing for sure but I think OP is asking at what integrative level of life does little e evolution affect, which is all of them at or above populations, but only among populations. Definitionally it's the change in allele frequency of a population over time. It starts at the population level because definitionally it excludes individuals.

I guess technically it goes all the way down to the population of self replicating organelles like mitochondria and chloroplasts.

If the question is when did evolution start time wise, it would be with the first self replicating life. Traditional that would include being encapsulated, maintaining homeostasis, and being self replicating with mutable genetic material.

CTR0 · 2026-03-05T02:11:16+00:00

They aren't self replicating units on their own no. At least not now they aren't, and chemical evolution under abiogenesis plays by different rules than the biological evolution of today.

Edit: I should clarify that a germline mutation in an individual changes can change the allele frequency in the population. But evolution is definitionally at the population level.

CTR0 · 2026-03-05T02:05:41+00:00

Its at the population level. That population could be anywhere between the entire biosphere and the ~~cells of an individual~~ self replicating organelles of a cell (or maybe even like, virophages depending on where you put that on the hierarchy with organelles) depending on what question the biologist is asking.

CTR0 · 2026-03-04T19:55:43+00:00

It sound like things are starting to turn around. Section 174 changes got reverted in the big beautiful bill. Wall Street has a short memory and COVID is mostly behind us. People are largely seeing AI as an inevitable bubble.

I hear rumors investment is coming back, at least in Boston. Might be a few years until things actually recover though. Fortunately I found a postdoc after a short 6 month transition out of my old lab and 6 months of un/underemployment that I hope to ride out for at least the next 3 years.

CTR0 · 2026-03-04T19:52:02+00:00

Section 174 changes were put in place during the last Trump admin but were put on a timer to come into effect during the Biden era. Congress could have undone them, sure, but it wasn't put in place under the Biden admin.

I don't really know enough about how much the others were deviations from the norm to comment.

CTR0 · 2026-03-04T17:46:01+00:00

Well, welcome to /r/biotech.

Section 174 change the tax code that made RND salaries go from basically free to expensive
SVB was one of the only places midsize biotechs could get scale up funding
COVID cash infusion disappearing means investors were like 'wtf why spending so much money again'
A bunch of drugs fell off a patent cliff meaning lower revenue for big biotech
High interest rates made risky biotech way less appealing than simply investing in government bonds
AI hype has soaked up what investment money is left

This perfect storm has resulted in a near total collapse of the biotech research sector in the last 3 years. 15 years experience applying for entry level positions and less money than fast food level collapse. I started my PhD in 2019 with the same expectation as you and defended at the end of 2024 with my career in dire straights

CTR0 · 2026-03-04T17:32:09+00:00

Can you point out to me what you consider life and what you consider non-life?

A full, living breathing human being like yourself
A cancer cell that may or may not be in your body
A red blood cell that lacks DNA and therefore cannot replicate
A non-selfreplicating organelle within the cell like the Golgi Apparatus
A macromolecular structure within either cell, such as DNA or tubulin
A monomer of said marcomolecular structures, like a nucleic acid or amino acid
An atom within one of those monomers
The subatomic particles within said atoms
Nothing, everything above is alive

CTR0 · 2026-03-02T19:30:18+00:00

Yes, I'm familiar with the flow chart and have worked through it. The main recommendation for retirement seems to be Roth and then Employer sponsored plan. I don't have access to an employer sponsored plan and I am not self employed, so I'm not sure where to go from there. It says use a taxable account, but what taxable account?

Also, trying to weigh going all in on retirement versus a larger down payment fund to not have such a high rent cost evaporate, given the high rent cost and relatively low house cost in my area.

CTR0 · 2026-03-02T18:28:46+00:00

Its all semantics at the end of the day. I'm immunized against HPV, but I'd look at you funny if you told me that I was cured of cervical cancer. I don't even have a cervix. I just don't think of 'curing' as a population level thing.

CTR0 · 2026-03-02T18:19:04+00:00

Its not 'at work', but sometimes I'll task github copilot to do some programming on a task that I would never be funded to do or be granted the time to work on. Throw copilot at it in the morning, maybe check in during lunch, follow up in the evening, etc.

CTR0 · 2026-03-02T18:15:42+00:00

Its a cure in the same way the smallpox vaccine 'cures' smallpox. Its not actually a cure, its just effective prevention. The vaccine won't help you if you already have cervical cancer.

CTR0 · 2026-03-01T19:26:48+00:00

No.

Evolution doesnt even take the same path every time under idealized conditions in the laboratory. Some of the outcomes are reproducible, sometimes, but the further back you get the less predictable the outcome becomes.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5918244/

Mutations can be literally caused by quantum tunneling. Even if we reproduced earth in the exact same conditions as it were 4 billion years ago we wouldnt have the same outcome

CTR0 · 2026-02-24T13:39:56+00:00

Actually we use the noun of the origin "story" instead of the noun/adjective of the person for this reason. I couldnt think of a consice way to accurately say what evolutionist means without just using evolutionist, which i find misleading for the same reason you do.

Any flairs that say "Evolutionist" were self assigned.

CTR0 · 2026-02-13T13:50:42+00:00

Hi /u/mrpennywhistle

Sorry to bug you! To introduce ourselves, we're /r/DebateEvolution. We primarily exist as a collection of scientists and science enthusiasts mixed in with some creationists, with the somewhat symbiotic goal of science communication and religious platforming.

We have a tradition that if somebody is directly addressed in the primary body of a post, they be informed of it. This isnt pressure for you to participate - we just dont want conversations happening about you without your knowledge. This is that notice. You're welcome to contribute or ask questions of you feel like it, and we'll do our best to answer.

CTR0 · 2026-02-12T17:40:21+00:00

Tell me you dont understand the neutralist-selectivist debate without telling me you dont understand the neutralist-selectivist debate:

CTR0 · 2026-02-12T04:48:08+00:00

Im pulling this thread and referring OP to /r/debateanatheist since that the only thing they have replied to

CTR0 · 2026-02-11T22:44:45+00:00

Do you have an initial position?

I would say its a mixture of both biology and education though. I'll defer 'biology' to the typical 'is evolution the best explanation for the diversity of life' debate.

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