The biochemistry of cell adhesion and communication (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, December 29, 2015, 21:16 (3251 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: We are going through a period of evolutionary stasis, in which all we see is adaptation, as opposed to innovation. We know from current adaptations that cell communities can make rapid adjustments to themselves without advance planning - purely in response to environmental change.
DAVID: Other than the rapid appearance of H. sapiens, not much else has changed for over six million years. Are we at the end of planned evolution?-Why “planned”? In any case, your question is not relevant to the point I have made, which is that we have evidence of organisms changing their own structure in response to the environment and without advance planning. That doesn't prove they are capable of invention (as opposed to adaptation), but it opens up the possibility that the same mechanism might be used innovatively when changing conditions offer new opportunities (as opposed to life-threatening dangers).