The mystery has been solved.
The reason why only 30% of human DNA performs any useful function is that the rest of it is comments.
Once we decode a typical human genome, we see that the contents begin as follows:
/* HUMAN_DNA.H
-
- Human Genome
- Version 2.1
-
- (C) The Omnipotent Creator
- /
/* Revision history:
-
- 0000-00-01 00:00 1.0 Adam.
- 0000-00-02 10:00 1.1 Eve.
- 0000-00-03 02:11 1.2 Added penis code to male version. A bit messy --
- will require a rewrite later on to make it neater.
- 0017-03-12 03:14 1.3 Added extra sex drive to male.h; took code from
- elephant-dna.c
- 0145-10-03 16:33 1.4 Removed tail.
- 1115-00-31 17:20 1.5 Shortened forearms, expanded brain case.
- 2091-08-20 13:56 1.6 Opposable thumbs added to hand() routine.
- 2501-04-09 14:04 1.7 Minor cosmetic improvements -- skin colour made
- darker to match my own image.
- 2909-07-12 02:21 1.8 Dentition inadequate; added extra 'wisdom' teeth.
- Must remember to make mouth bigger to compensate.
- 4501-12-31 14:18 1.9 Increase average height.
- 5533-02-12 17:09 2.0 Added gay option, triggered by high population
- density, to try and slow the overpopulation problem
- 6004-11-04 16:11 2.1 Made forefinger narrower to fit hole in centre of
- CD.
- /
#define SEX male
- define HEIGHT 1.84
- define MASS 68
- define RACE caucasian
/* Include inherited traits from parent DNA files.
-
- Files must be pre-processed with MENDEL program to provide proper
- inheritance features.
- /
#include "mother.h"
- include "father.h"
#ifndef FATHER
- warn("Father unknown -- guessing\n")
- include "bastard.h"
- endif
/* Set up sex-specific functions and variables
- include
/* Kludged code -- I'll re-design this lot and re-write it as a proper
struct genitals
{
- ifdef MALE
Penis *jt;
- endif
/* G_spot *g; Removed for debugging purposes */
- ifdef FEMALE
Vagina *p;
- endif
}
/* Initialization bootstrap routine -- called before DNA duplication.
- Allocates buffers and sets up protein file pointers
- /
DNA *zygote_initialize(Sperm *, Ovum *);
/* MAIN INITIALIZATION CODE
-
- Returns structures containing pre-processed phenotypes for the organism
- to display at birth.
-
- Will be improved later to make output less ugly.
- /
Characteristic *lookup_phenotype(Identifier *i);
...and so on.
Note that the Creator uses three-space tabs ?