Evolution through multiple small mutations in line with Nassim Taleb's innovation by "aggressive tinkering"

Nature's "tinkering" with mouse colour gene through multiple mutations works better than one major mutation
George ILIEV

Deer mice in Nebraska changed their coat colour over an incredibly short period of 8,000 years as a result of nine separate mutations in a single gene, rather than in one single big mutation, a recent discovery by Harvard evolutionary biologists reported in Science reveals. With each mutation, the originally dark-coloured migrant mouse species obtained a lighter and more camouflaged coat, which made easier its survival in the lighter-colour environment of the prairie. This mechanism shows how natural selection produces fine adaptations through series of many small changes, rather than through a handful of big mutations.

This discovery could lend support to Nassim Taleb's "Antifragile" theory of innovation and scientific progress, in which he asserts that "aggressive tinkering" with a product leads to better and more innovative results than directed research. Taleb compares the R&D process with cooking, which "relies entirely on the heuristics of trial and error": adding an ingredient or spice to a dish is usually followed by tasting that verifies if the addition has led to an improvement. Crucially, the cook has the option but not the obligation to retain or discard the resulting mix, just like natural selection retains the positive adaptations and discards the negative.

(Photo: Nassim Taleb, photographed by Sarah Josephine Taleb, Wikipedia)