Yesterday, I was out innocently surfing the Web when I happened across a site that downloaded a Trojan Horse onto my computer (for those of you not in the know, Trojans are illicit programs that redirect browsers, pop up distasteful web sites, and wreak all sorts of havoc with the inner workings of your PC). The result was that I was rendered unable (and still am unable, as of this writing) to make any changes to my Dinosaurs site from my home computer.

In an attempt to fix the damage, I ran a virus scan on my PC—a longer process than I expected, since it turns out that there are over 60,000 separate files on my hard drive. This got me to thinking, since 60,000 is roughly equivalent (give or take a few tens of thousands) to the number of genes in your average dinosaur, or any macroscopic life form, for that matter. The vast majority of these files (genes), if deleted or tampered with, have no evident effect on the functioning of the computer (organism), but mess with the wrong one and Bam!—either the entire system collapses, or subtle, negative changes accumulate and render the computer/dinosaur completely unfit for its environment.

What about those random changes that produce an improvement in the system? I’m no computer expert, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one out of every million code-tweakings perpetrated by hostile viruses actually resulted in improved function—the same way (very) rare genetic mutations created new, improved dinosaurs.