First ‘Rule’ of Evolution…
Mar 18 at 7:07pm by Aileen
Researchers at the University of Bath in England, Imperial College London, and the University of Waterloo in Canada have analyzed the last 550 million years of evolution in the fossil record, and determined that the First ‘Rule’ of Evolution Suggests that Life is Destined to Become More Complex.
This may be news to evolutionary biologists and interested laity who were taught that evolution is solely a matter of random mutation and natural selection with no direction toward greater complexity. Dr. Matthew Wills from the University of Bath explained it thus…
“If you start with the simplest possible animal body, then there’s only one direction to evolve in – you have to become more complex. Sooner or later, however, you reach a level of complexity where it’s possible to go backwards and become simple again.”
But does this happen? Wills explains…
“What’s astonishing is that hardly any crustaceans have taken this backwards route. Instead, almost all branches have evolved in the same direction, becoming more complex in parallel. This is the nearest thing to a pervasive evolutionary rule that’s been found.”
One Response for "First ‘Rule’ of Evolution…"
Two-Handed Tapping Traktor
March 23rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
1One possible explanation for this tendency toward greater complexity in evolution might be that tenet of cybernetic theory, which states (my clumsy paraphrase) –
“Within any (relatively) closed system, that element which has the greatest variety of responses available survives best.”
In evolutionary systems, we can notice that with the development of a new system, the old one generally remains functional with the body, and fades away only slowly if it is entirely unused. An example might be the dual nervous system we humans have in our body. The older (in evolution) nerves fire slow and tell us things like ‘dull ache’. The newer nerve system fires faster and tells us things like ’sharp pain.’ Both co-exist, because both are useful.
Likewise we have two separately functioning digestive processes, one for a hervibore diet and one for a carnivore diet. They interfere with each other somewhat, but having both let us adapt to available foods back in times when that mattered.
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