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The complexity of evolution
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UNSPECIFIED (2001) The complexity of evolution. In: NATO-Advanced-Study-Institute on Nonlinear Dynamics in the Life and Social Sciences, LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIV, MOSCOW, RUSSIA, APR 25-MAY 06, 2000. Published in: NONLINEAR DYNAMICS IN THE LIFE AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, 320 pp. 349-359. ISBN 1-58603-020-5. ISSN 1387-6686.
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Abstract
In spite of its beauty and simplicity, the concept of the selfish gene fails to capture the full complexity of biological morphogenesis and evolution. The gene does not provide a "blueprint" for morphogenesis. Instead, the relationship between gene and organism is closer to that between a play and its actors. The gene provides a mere outline, the final performance arising out of the interaction between the unique ensemble of acting processes, the environmental stage, and the historical contingencies of the species which have conspired to locate it in the present (for extinct species, this has failed). Particularly, in animals the "read-out" of genes is organised by the egg architecture and only happens during and after the phylotypic stage (neurula for the vertebrates) - so the egg is like the tape player, and each model is different. As such, morphogenesis is determined as much by environment and by context as by its genes. Evolution shapes the nature of the genes by exploiting recombination rather than new mutation; historical contingency drives natural selection. Both reductionism and anti-reductionism fail to capture the essence of the evolutionary process. Instead, a new metaphor, that of 'Ant Country' is described, which more fairly reflects the non-deterministic, irreducible, contextual nature of the evolutionary process.
Item Type: | Conference Item (UNSPECIFIED) | ||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology Q Science > QA Mathematics Q Science B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
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Series Name: | NATO SCIENCE SERIES, SERIES A: LIFE SCIENCE | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | NONLINEAR DYNAMICS IN THE LIFE AND SOCIAL SCIENCES | ||||
Publisher: | I O S PRESS | ||||
ISBN: | 1-58603-020-5 | ||||
ISSN: | 1387-6686 | ||||
Editor: | Sulis, W and Trofimova, I | ||||
Official Date: | 2001 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 320 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 11 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 349-359 | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Title of Event: | NATO-Advanced-Study-Institute on Nonlinear Dynamics in the Life and Social Sciences | ||||
Location of Event: | LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIV, MOSCOW, RUSSIA | ||||
Date(s) of Event: | APR 25-MAY 06, 2000 |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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