Quit being so hostile, if you are not interested in discussion I would recommend not spending time on discussion boards.
You first spoke as if it was an absolute certainty ("This is basic evolutionary theory") and now are saying, "all of the normal caveats apply" which is exactly what I was getting at in my OP thread. The "normal caveats"/edge cases are exactly what this whole discussion is about. Clearly we are speaking past one another, I apologize for my role in whatever went wrong here.
I'm sorry you're interpreting my comments as hostility, but basically you're being a the sort of commenter that it isn't really worth engaging with. You're not interested in my answers, and you've accused me of using arguments from authority. From my perspective you seem intent on finding some loophole where i'm either lying to you or i'm incorrect. In a message board format, particularly with the number of outright bad actors when it comes to anything COVID related, how is it actually in my interest to provide you with a freshman course on molecular biology?
The problem is you haven't grasped that they're actually the same answer. It can be true that a field driven by stochastic behaviour consists mostly of degrees and probabilities, and still, due to the realities of how evolution and natural selection work, mean that it is impossible for an extremely highly conserved component of spike protein to jump to a new configuration, that at the same time escapes antibody response for the conserved region and maintains any degree of fitness in the wild.
Please park your antagonism and if you are actually interested, walk through the door and explore the field yourself. It's fascinating
> mean that it is impossible for an extremely highly conserved component of spike protein to jump to a new configuration, that at the same time escapes antibody response for the conserved region and maintains any degree of fitness in the wild.
See this is exactly the sort of quantification I was asking for from the beginning (albeit still somewhat vague). Others in the thread have already answered most of my questions (read the other threads if you like) but you just kept talking past them until now. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
> walk through the door and explore the field yourself. It's fascinating
That is precisely what I am trying to do here because I do find it fascinating as well. I have to be allowed to ask questions (even stupid ones) and I do those primarily in discussion forums like HN.
