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A Practical Guide to Phage- and Robotics-Assisted Near-Continuous Evolution

A Practical Guide to Phage- and Robotics-Assisted Near-Continuous Evolution

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Evolution: like any other science it is predictable.

Simon Conway Morris¹

¹Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. sc113@esc.cam.ac.uk

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences

|December 17, 2009

Summary

Evolutionary biology may be more predictable than previously thought. This research suggests a move beyond focusing solely on Darwinian mechanisms to explore universal patterns in evolution, like convergence and complex systems.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Theoretical Biology
Systems Biology

Background:

Current evolutionary biology research often focuses on specific taxa, limiting interdisciplinary dialogue.
Specialized research seldom explores broader explanatory frameworks beyond group-specific peculiarities.

Purpose of the Study:

To present evidence for evolution being a predictable process, challenging the view of life's diversity as purely accidental.
To advocate for a general theory of evolution that moves beyond tautological explanations.
To shift focus towards understanding evolutionary convergence and the emergence of complex systems.

Main Methods:

Review and synthesis of existing evolutionary biology research.
Conceptual analysis of evolutionary theory and its current limitations.
Argumentation for a paradigm shift in evolutionary biology.

Main Results:

Evidence suggests that evolutionary outcomes are not entirely fortuitous but exhibit predictability.
Ubiquitous evolutionary convergence and the emergence of complex integrated systems point to underlying general principles.
Current evolutionary theory may be overlooking fundamental, predictable aspects of life's development.

Conclusions:

Evolutionary biology requires a new theoretical framework, analogous to the paradigm shifts in physics with quantum mechanics and relativity.
A move away from an exclusive focus on Darwinian mechanisms is necessary to uncover deeper explanations for life's predictable patterns.
The field awaits a unifying theory to explain the predictability and convergence observed in the diversity of life.