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From: minsky@ml.media.mit.edu (Marvin Minsky)
Subject: Re: Hamilton and Tipler
Message-ID: <1996Jul30.020526.420@media.mit.edu>
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References: <4s1jne$mh3@Kaos.deepcove.com> <6Dfn6TbzcsB@khms.westfalen.de> <838665355snz@meden.demon.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 02:05:26 GMT
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Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai:40268 comp.ai.philosophy:44923

In article <838665355snz@meden.demon.co.uk> stewart@meden.demon.co.uk writes:
>In article <6Dfn6TbzcsB@khms.westfalen.de>
>           kai@khms.westfalen.de "Kai Henningsen" writes:
>
>> 
>> However, AFAIK, multicellular life has been invented *once*.
>> 
>That turns out not to be correct. (Did you mean eukaryotic life?)
>There are believed to have been several independent origins of
>multicellularity - I know of at least four - sponges, other animals,
>plants and (multicellular) fungi.

[snip]

I'd guess that multicellular forms were "invented" myriad times during
the 3 billion-odd years since the first unicellular ones evolved --
but only a few such species survived the ferocious competition that
prevailed in later times.  This discussion seems to confuse the issues
of occurrence of a form and the survival-to-the-present-day of its
descendants.   

 - marvin minsky
