scholarly journals Evolution Without Variation and Selection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liane Gabora ◽  
Mike Steel
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Assembly Code ◽  
Organic Life ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
Variation And Selection ◽  
Variation Process

AbstractA central tenet of evolutionary theory is that it requires variation upon which selection can act. We describe a means of attaining cumulative, adaptive, open-ended change that requires neither variation nor selective exclusion, and that can occur in the absence of generations (i.e., no explicit birth or death). This second evolutionary process occurs through the assimilation, restructuring, and extrusion of products into the environment by identical, interacting Reflexively Autocatalytic and Food set-generated (RAF) networks. We refer to this more primitive process evolutionary process as Self–Other Reorganisation because it involves internal self-organising and self-maintaining processes within entities, as well as interaction between entities. Since there is no self-assembly code, it is more haphazard than natural selection, and there is no discarding of acquired traits (a signature characteristic of natural selection). In the extreme, it can work with just one entity but it differs from learning because it can operate in groups of entities, and produce adaptive change across generations. We suggest that this more primitive process is operative during the initial stage of an evolutionary process, and that it is responsible for both the origin and early evolution of both organic life, and human culture. In cultural evolution, this ‘evolution without variation’ process can increase homogeneity amongst members of a group and thereby foster group identity and cohesion.

scholarly journals An evolutionary process without variation and selection

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (180) ◽  
pp. 20210334
Author(s):  
Liane Gabora ◽  
Mike Steel
Keyword(s):  
Germ Cells ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Adaptive Change ◽  
Assembly Code ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Special Case ◽  
Variation And Selection

Natural selection successfully explains how organisms accumulate adaptive change despite that traits acquired over a lifetime are eliminated at the end of each generation. However, in some domains that exhibit cumulative, adaptive change—e.g. cultural evolution, and earliest life—acquired traits are retained; these domains do not face the problem that Darwin’s theory was designed to solve. Lack of transmission of acquired traits occurs when germ cells are protected from environmental change, due to a self-assembly code used in two distinct ways: (i) actively interpreted during development to generate a soma, and (ii) passively copied without interpretation during reproduction to generate germ cells. Early life and cultural evolution appear not to involve a self-assembly code used in these two ways. We suggest that cumulative, adaptive change in these domains is due to a lower-fidelity evolutionary process, and model it using reflexively autocatalytic and foodset-generated networks. We refer to this more primitive evolutionary process as self–other reorganization (SOR) because it involves internal self-organizing and self-maintaining processes within entities, as well as interaction between entities. SOR encompasses learning but in general operates across groups. We discuss the relationship between SOR and Lamarckism, and illustrate a special case of SOR without variation.

Epigenetic and cultural evolution are non-Darwinian

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-371
Author(s):  
Liane Gabora
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Epigenetic Change ◽  
Assembly Code ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Distinct Role

AbstractThe argument that heritable epigenetic change plays a distinct role in evolution would be strengthened through recognition that it is what bootstrapped the origin and early evolution of life, and that, like behavioral and symbolic change, it is non-Darwinian. The mathematics of natural selection, a population-level process, is limited to replication with negligible individual-level change that uses a self-assembly code.

scholarly journals Five Clarifications about Cultural Evolution

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 61-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liane Gabora
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Replicator Dynamics ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Assembly Code ◽  
Creative Processes ◽  
Objective Basis

AbstractThis paper reviews and clarifies five misunderstandings about cultural evolution identified by Henrich et al. (2008). First, cultural representations are neither discrete nor continuous; they are distributed across neurons that respond to microfeatures. This enables associations to be made, and cultural change to be generated. Second, ‘replicator dynamics’ do not ensure natural selection. The replicator notion does not capture the distinction between actively interpreted self-assembly code and passively copied self-description, which leads to a fundamental principle of natural selection: inherited information is transmitted, whereas acquired information is not. Third, this principle is violated in culture by the ubiquity of acquired change. Moreover, biased transmission is less important to culture than the creative processes by which novelty is generated. Fourth, there is no objective basis for determining cultural fitness. Fifth, the necessity of randomness is discussed. It is concluded that natural selection inappropriate is an explanatory framework for culture.

Ewolucja. Twórcza moc selekcji

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Dzik
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Evolutionary Developmental Biology ◽  
Homeotic Genes ◽  
Time Dimension ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Theory Of Evolution

An instructive introduction to the theory of evolution and its applications in biology, physics, chemistry, geology and humanities. The author shows that evolution is a physical process, occurring in geological time dimension, describes how the Darwin’s theory of natural selection works in immunology, neurobiology, sociology as well as in certain aspects of culture and political institutions. He also shows the effects achieved through the action of selection in different areas of biological and social life. He discusses such problems as: the ambiguity of the term “theory of evolution”, the falsifiability of evolutionary hypotheses, connection between evolution and thermodynamics, the concept of reductionism, methodological background of phylogenetics, cladistics, evolutionary developmental biology and homeotic genes, as well as the cumulative nature of social and cultural evolution.

scholarly journals Direct, single-step synthesis of hierarchical zeolites without secondary templating

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 1298-1305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhuopeng Wang ◽  
Chao Li ◽  
Hong Je Cho ◽  
Shih-Chieh Kung ◽  
Mark A. Snyder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Catalytic Activity ◽  
Mass Transport ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Single Step ◽  
Hierarchical Zeolites ◽  
Hierarchical Zeolite ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Zeolite Precursors

Hierarchical ZSM-5 with a shell of stacked coffin-shaped crystals and a core of nanocrystal aggregates was synthesized by controlling the formation and self-assembly of zeolite precursors formed in the initial stage of crystallization. The formed hierarchical zeolite shows superior catalytic activity for reaction involving bulky molecules due to enhanced mass transport.

scholarly journals The quantum mitochondrion and optimal health

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 1101-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair V.W. Nunn ◽  
Geoffrey W. Guy ◽  
Jimmy D. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Emergent Behaviour ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Optimal Health ◽  
Response To Stress ◽  
Will Self ◽  
Selection Of

A sufficiently complex set of molecules, if subject to perturbation, will self-organize and show emergent behaviour. If such a system can take on information it will become subject to natural selection. This could explain how self-replicating molecules evolved into life and how intelligence arose. A pivotal step in this evolutionary process was of course the emergence of the eukaryote and the advent of the mitochondrion, which both enhanced energy production per cell and increased the ability to process, store and utilize information. Recent research suggest that from its inception life embraced quantum effects such as ‘tunnelling’ and ‘coherence’ while competition and stressful conditions provided a constant driver for natural selection. We believe that the biphasic adaptive response to stress described by hormesis–a process that captures information to enable adaptability, is central to this whole process. Critically, hormesis could improve mitochondrial quantum efficiency, improving the ATP/ROS ratio, whereas inflammation, which is tightly associated with the aging process, might do the opposite. This all suggests that to achieve optimal health and healthy aging, one has to sufficiently stress the system to ensure peak mitochondrial function, which itself could reflect selection of optimum efficiency at the quantum level.

scholarly journals How culture and biology interact to shape language and the language faculty

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenny Smith
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Evolutionary Models ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Repeated Cycle ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Precise Relationship

Recent work suggests that linguistic structure develops through cultural evolution, as a consequence of the repeated cycle of learning and use by which languages persist. This work has important implications for our understanding of the evolution of the cognitive basis for language: in particular, human language and the cognitive capacities underpinning it are likely to have been shaped by co-evolutionary processes, where the cultural evolution of linguistic systems is shaped by and in turn shapes the biological evolution of the capacities underpinning language learning. I review several models of this co-evolutionary process, which suggest that the precise relationship between evolved biases in individuals and the structure of linguistic systems depends on the extent to which cultural evolution masks or unmasks individual-level cognitive biases from selection. I finish by discussing how these co-evolutionary models might be extended to cases where the biases involved in learning are themselves shaped by experience, as is the case for language.

scholarly journals Agrowisata Berkelanjutan Berbasis Kopi di Satria Agrowisata Desa Manukaya, Kecamatana Tampak Siring, Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali (Studi Evolusi Pariwisata)

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 262
Author(s):  
Febrytha Nur Azizah ◽  
I Putu Anom
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Tourist Attraction ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Alternative Tourism ◽  
The World ◽  
Tourism Activity ◽  
Main Attraction

Agro-tourism is an alternative tourism activity that relies on plantations and agriculture as its main attraction. Along with the development of tourism, agro-tourism has now become an economic driving commodity for the surrounding community, so that agro-tourism is increasingly taken into account in the world of tourism. The development of an agro-tourism can not be separated from the evolutionary process that occurs through various stages of the beginning of the tourist attraction built until now. This study aims to determine the evolution of developments in Satria Agrowisata. The research method used is descriptive qualitative by conducting data collection techniques through online interview as primary data, and conducting online observations as secondary data. The results show that Satria Agrowisata can adapt well to the various changes that exist and continue to innovate in order to survive in the world of tourism until now. In Darwin's theory of evolution, he put forward two key words in his theory, natural selection and adaptation. Natural selection as a mechanism for evolutionary change, and adaptations that occur in its development over time.   Keyword: Evolution, Agrotourism, Satria Agrowisata, Bali.

Getting Beyond the Apemen

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Lesley Newson ◽  
Peter J. Richerson
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Complex Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

This introductory chapter explains why a new story of human evolution is needed, and also lays the foundations of the story told in this book. One of the reasons we need a new story is that previous stories have concentrated on what our male ancestors were doing. Since survival is most at risk in the first years of life, it makes much more sense to concentrate on children and their mothers than on adult males. A brief account of the history of ideas in evolution by natural selection and human evolution provides readers with a background in evolutionary processes. Humans are a product of evolution, but we are not like other animals, because we are connected and readily share complex information. We are unique and our evolution was the result of a unique evolutionary process. To understand ourselves in evolutionary terms, it’s necessary to consider two intertwined evolutionary processes—genes and culture.

Units and levels of selection

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samir Okasha
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Levels Of Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Transitions ◽  
Individual Organism ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Hierarchical Levels ◽  
The Individual

In a standard Darwinian explanation, natural selection takes place at the level of the individual organism, i.e. some organisms enjoy a survival or reproduction advantage over others, which results in evolutionary change. In principle however, natural selection could operate at other hierarchical levels too, above and below that of the organism, for example the level of genes, cells, groups, colonies or even whole species. This possibility gives rise to the ‘levels of selection’ question in evolutionary biology. Group and colony-level selection have been proposed, originally by Darwin, as a means by which altruism can evolve. (In biology, ‘altruism’ refers to behaviour which entails a fitness cost to the individual so behaving, but benefits others.) Though this idea is still alive today, many theorists regard kin selection as a superior explanation for the existence of altruism. Kin selection arises from the fact that relatives share genes, so if an organism behaves altruistically towards its relatives, there is a greater than random chance that the beneficiary of the altruistic action will itself be an altruist. Kin selection is closely bound up with the ‘gene’s eye view’ of evolution, which holds that genes, not organisms, are the true beneficiaries of the evolutionary process. The gene’s eye approach to evolution, though heuristically valuable, does not in itself resolve the levels of selection question, because selection processes that occur at many hierarchical levels can all be seen from a gene’s eye viewpoint. In recent years, the levels of selection discussion has been re-invigorated, and subtly transformed, by the important new work on the ‘major evolutionary transitions’. These transitions occur when a number of free-living biological units, originally capable of surviving and reproducing alone, become integrated into a larger whole, giving rise to a new biological unit at a higher level of organization. Evolutionary transitions are intimately bound up with the levels of selection issue, because during a transition the potential exists for selection to operate simultaneously at two different hierarchical levels.

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