Eric Smith's mainstream Wired article on biological thermodynamics and evolution

[Stephen Guerin]

Nice, Eric!

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/02/evolution-as-bi.html
Abstract:Most evolutionary biologists cherish Darwin's theory of natural
selection (NS) as the process of adaptive evolution more than 140 years after
publication of his first book on the subject. However, in the past few decades
the study of self-organization (SO) in complex dynamical systems has suggested
that adaptation may occur through intrinsic reorganization without NS. In this
study, we attempt to describe the logical framework that relates the general
process of SO to the specific process of NS. We describe NS as a mechanism that
coordinates the coevolution of species in an ecosystem to effectively capture,
process and dissipate solar energy into the earth's shadow. Finally, we conclude
that NS is an emergent process founded on the same thermodynamic imperatives
that are thought to underlie all SO. This perspective suggests that the theory
of self-organizing systems offers a broader physical context in which to
understand the process of NS, rather than contesting it. It even suggests the
possibility that there may be a physical basis for understanding the origin of
the process of NS. Rather than being merely a fluke of nature, the origin of NS
that may be driven by energy flows across gradients.



--- -. .   ..-. .. ... ....   - .-- ---   ..-. .. ... ....
Stephen.Guerin at Redfish.com
www.Redfish.com
624 Agua Fria Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501
mobile: [phone]
office: Santa Fe, NM [phone] / London, UK [phone]

[Russell Standish]

Interestingly, I was just the other day reading a fairly technical
paper making essentially the same point:

Stanley & Miikkulainen (2004) J. AI Research vol 21, pp63-100 "Competitive
Coevolution through Evolutionary Complexification".

Cheers

On Wed, Feb 13, 2008 at 05:11:26PM -0700, Stephen Guerin wrote:
> Nice, Eric!
>
> http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/02/evolution-as-bi.html
> Abstract:Most evolutionary biologists cherish Darwin's theory of natural
> selection (NS) as the process of adaptive evolution more than 140 years after
> publication of his first book on the subject. However, in the past few decades
> the study of self-organization (SO) in complex dynamical systems has suggested
> that adaptation may occur through intrinsic reorganization without NS. In this

--

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/Prof Russell Standish                  Phone [phone] (mobile)
Mathematics                        
UNSW SYDNEY 2052                 hpcoder at hpcoders.com.au
Australia                                http://www.hpcoders.com.au
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[David Eric Smith]

Thanks Steve,

I didn't know that this existed.  It is really hopeful that the author
of the series puts Guy's work in the same frame as Carl Woese's,
probably without realizing that I am part of collaborations with both
of them.  That suggests that the idea is taking on some recognizable
coherence of its own, because the way Carl says these things is rather
drastically different than the way Guy does, and Carl considers a
rather different set of questions to be primary.  However, I also
believe it is correct to see the two representations as reflecting the
same essential missing parts in current biological theory (which parts
are also a missing part of current physical theory). So the author must
be seeing the idea through its very different set of representations.

Best,

Eric