Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Mitochondria are another clear example showing the tree of life model is broken. And all it takes is one counter example to show a model is bullshit.


That's rather harsh, don't you think? All models have their limits and scopes, but that doesn't preclude them being useful in their own right. For instance, Newtonian physics simply can't cope with molecular-scale events, but it still gets used every day for the cases where quantum or relativistic effects don't matter. Likewise, phylogenetic classification is still a hugely useful tool within biology. The fact that it has assumptions and limitations merely defines it, rather than diminishing from it.


Just because it's bullshit does not mean it's useless.

The tree of life model is almost useless for understanding single celled organisms which vastly outnumber there multicellular counterparts. It also creates a lot of confusion where people assume the model matches reality instead of poorly mapping to reality. Consider species is a surprisingly vague concept where A and B may be compatible and A and C are compatible but B and C are not. The point is it's based on inaccurate assumptions, if you understand how and why the model breaks down you can extract a lot of value from F=MA or any other such approximation.




Consider applying for YC's Summer 2026 batch! Applications are open till May 4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: