> A virus is much simpler than a human, but even for that simple virus the effects of most of the mutations could not be predicted.
Is this the correct logic? I (very naively) would think that a small mutation of a virus, with the percent change that is being made, would be more of a fundamental change in the nature of the thing, so maybe less predictable. Where poking genes of a human being more of a (possibly strong!) statistical nudge, since most things seem to be spread across many genes, what's being expressed for sometimes environmental reasons, and even influenced by "junk DNA".
Is this the correct logic? I (very naively) would think that a small mutation of a virus, with the percent change that is being made, would be more of a fundamental change in the nature of the thing, so maybe less predictable. Where poking genes of a human being more of a (possibly strong!) statistical nudge, since most things seem to be spread across many genes, what's being expressed for sometimes environmental reasons, and even influenced by "junk DNA".