Cargando…
Evolution: like any other science it is predictable
Evolutionary biology rejoices in the diversity of life, but this comes at a cost: other than working in the common framework of neo-Darwinian evolution, specialists in, for example, diatoms and mammals have little to say to each other. Accordingly, their research tends to track the particularities a...
Autor principal: | |
---|---|
Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
The Royal Society
2010
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842699/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20008391 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0154 |
_version_ | 1782179205876809728 |
---|---|
author | Conway Morris, Simon |
author_facet | Conway Morris, Simon |
author_sort | Conway Morris, Simon |
collection | PubMed |
description | Evolutionary biology rejoices in the diversity of life, but this comes at a cost: other than working in the common framework of neo-Darwinian evolution, specialists in, for example, diatoms and mammals have little to say to each other. Accordingly, their research tends to track the particularities and peculiarities of a given group and seldom enquires whether there are any wider or deeper sets of explanations. Here, I present evidence in support of the heterodox idea that evolution might look to a general theory that does more than serve as a tautology (‘evolution explains evolution’). Specifically, I argue that far from its myriad of products being fortuitous and accidental, evolution is remarkably predictable. Thus, I urge a move away from the continuing obsession with Darwinian mechanisms, which are entirely uncontroversial. Rather, I emphasize why we should seek explanations for ubiquitous evolutionary convergence, as well as the emergence of complex integrated systems. At present, evolutionary theory seems to be akin to nineteenth-century physics, blissfully unaware of the imminent arrival of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Physics had its Newton, biology its Darwin: evolutionary biology now awaits its Einstein. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-2842699 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2010 |
publisher | The Royal Society |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-28426992010-03-23 Evolution: like any other science it is predictable Conway Morris, Simon Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci Articles Evolutionary biology rejoices in the diversity of life, but this comes at a cost: other than working in the common framework of neo-Darwinian evolution, specialists in, for example, diatoms and mammals have little to say to each other. Accordingly, their research tends to track the particularities and peculiarities of a given group and seldom enquires whether there are any wider or deeper sets of explanations. Here, I present evidence in support of the heterodox idea that evolution might look to a general theory that does more than serve as a tautology (‘evolution explains evolution’). Specifically, I argue that far from its myriad of products being fortuitous and accidental, evolution is remarkably predictable. Thus, I urge a move away from the continuing obsession with Darwinian mechanisms, which are entirely uncontroversial. Rather, I emphasize why we should seek explanations for ubiquitous evolutionary convergence, as well as the emergence of complex integrated systems. At present, evolutionary theory seems to be akin to nineteenth-century physics, blissfully unaware of the imminent arrival of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Physics had its Newton, biology its Darwin: evolutionary biology now awaits its Einstein. The Royal Society 2010-01-12 /pmc/articles/PMC2842699/ /pubmed/20008391 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0154 Text en © 2010 The Royal Society http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Articles Conway Morris, Simon Evolution: like any other science it is predictable |
title | Evolution: like any other science it is predictable |
title_full | Evolution: like any other science it is predictable |
title_fullStr | Evolution: like any other science it is predictable |
title_full_unstemmed | Evolution: like any other science it is predictable |
title_short | Evolution: like any other science it is predictable |
title_sort | evolution: like any other science it is predictable |
topic | Articles |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842699/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20008391 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0154 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT conwaymorrissimon evolutionlikeanyotherscienceitispredictable |