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Author Topic:   The Nature of Mutations
AdminPampoli
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Message 324 of 344 (44480)
06-27-2003 4:59 PM
Reply to: Message 323 by John A. Davison
06-27-2003 1:24 PM


Re: hey, its OutofDate!
My own personal position:
Macro-evolution clearly occured as a historical process;
Evolution was driven my many varied mechanisms, including random mutation as a minor component, but also involving quasi-Lamrackian environmental influences, symbiosis, transpecific transfer, epigenetic inheritance, etc, but always along constrained pathways inherent in the nature of the organism;
The constraints on these pathways probably go back all the way to the original forms of life. Berg saw them as being inherent in the structures that arose from the primordial soup proposed by his friend and colleague Oparin. I'm no great fan of the primordial soup, but do I expect the constraints to have been present in the original forms, which were themselves probably many and varied.
As for whether evolution is finished - who knows? It is possible that architectural constraints would not allow unceasing variety in all forms. Micro-evolution by mutation clearly still occurs, but whether mutation by itself can ever, even once, bring a form to a critical threshold from which a new form can develop, I simply don't know.
Principle influences on my thought: Kropotkin, Berg, Simakov, Seilacher, Goodwin, Saunders and Ho, D'Arcy Thompson, Turing and Nijhout. Not many Darwinists there.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 323 by John A. Davison, posted 06-27-2003 1:24 PM John A. Davison has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 325 by John A. Davison, posted 06-27-2003 7:06 PM You have not replied

  
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