Read e-book online Beyond natural selection PDF

By Robert Wesson

ISBN-10: 0262731029

ISBN-13: 9780262731027

During this large and hugely readable inquiry, Robert Wesson proposes an method of evolution that's extra in concord with sleek technology than Darwinism or neoDarwinism. He emphasizes the significance for evolution of internal path and the self-organizing capacities of existence, a view that's higher capable of account for the chaotic nature of the evolutionary approach and the inherent propensity of advanced dynamic platforms to develop extra complicated with time. Many examples of vegetation and animals aid this concept, and Wesson comprises either rigorously documented medical evidence and fascinating anecdotes in regards to the unusual aberrations in traditional selection.Books by means of Robert Wesson comprise Cosmos and Metacosmos.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wesson, Robert G. Beyond natural selection / Robert Wesson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-262-23161-1 (HB), 0-262-73102-9 (PB) 1. Evolution. 2. Natural selection. 3. Adaptation (Biology) I. Title. 0 l-dc20 90-21977 CIP Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi 1 The Conventional Theory: "It Is Solved" 1 The "Neo-Darwinist Synthesis" 5 Variants of the Theory 12 The Commitment to Darwinism 16 The Religious Challenge 19 2 The Universe of Complexity 22 Limits of Reductionism 22 Higher Laws 26 The New Outlook of Science 30 Modernizing Darwinism 35 3 The Cryptic Record 38 Problems of Origins 38 The Leap into the Air 45 Between Land and Ocean 50 4 Inventive Nature 54 The Wonder of Life 54 Remarkable Structures 59 Page vi Fantastic Behaviors 68 Intelligent Instincts 74 Problems of Creativity 79 5 Inconsistent Nature 84 Adaptation 84 Nonadaptation 88 Infertility 96 Premature Death 102 6 The Question of Sex 106 The Role of Sex 106 Sexual Practices 111 Why Sex?

Saying "it is solved" expresses a hope. " Science, a synonym for systematic learning and objective knowledge, seeks to give explanations. Representing the work of millions of minds over centuries, it is the most successful human endeavor. Scientists naturally take pride in their ability not only to make useful discoveries but also to analyze and explain. The principal method of science is to take things apart, reducing the complex to simpler components reductionism, it is called. By studying the interactions of parts, one achieves Page 3 understanding of more involved phenomena, and facts of one branch of science are made derivable from the results of a more basic science (Ayala 1985, 65-79).

Because nucleic acid both replicated itself and transmitted information to proteins, molecular biologists concluded that information flows only from the nucleic acid to the body, never in the reverse direction. This implied that changes in the genetic apparatus, or genome, could come about only by errors of replication. Variation had to be accidental; there could be feedback only through the relative success or failure of variants in propagating themselves. This beautifully mechanical-materialistic idea was hardly to be questioned.

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Beyond natural selection by Robert Wesson


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