November 11, 2009
George M. Church
Center for Computational Genetics
Harvard Medical School
25 Shattuck Street, Boston MA 02115
Dear Dr. Church:
I see you have become an advisor to SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. I thought that as an alumnus of HMS I might appeal to you concerning a very important matter that has to do with computational genetics. I have concocted a computer program in C language that models the genetics of a population in a very simple way, assuming that genes are on chromosomes inherited by standard Mendelian laws and are subject to mutations that include recessive lethals and mutations that slightly detune one gene against others. Of course any mechanism must be fine tuned. I further assume that evolution has optimized genomes so that there are close to as many genes as can be supported against the inescapable deleterious mutation rate.
After a little tweaking and several runs my model predicts that a small population will die out of inbreeding, a modest sized population will flourish, and a population that is permitted to become fairly large will die of outbreeding just as a very small population will die of inbreeding. These predictions have been amply vindicated by multiple studies of fertility in animals and humans. Details and references are laid out in the 10 minute enclosed DVD and copiously discussed at nobabies.net which is my web site and serves me as a workbook where I post evidence as it accumulates and correspondence in which I attempt to get some help confirming the facts and laying them before the public. The fact that I am writing you should make clear that I am eager to do anything in my power to help you understand as quickly and easily as possible.
The importance of this matter of course cannot be overstated. Without babies we all die out. The developed world is so far into what appears to be its death plunge that rescue is problematic even if the attempt is made; and no attempt is being made. The rest of the world is only a few decades behind at best.
So please get in touch with me and let us discuss how to proceed. If you have children or grandchildren, as I do not, this is far more of a personal matter for you than for me. If you doubt that infertility is a major problem, just ask your family and friends.
Sincerely,
M. Linton Herbert MD
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