Evolution (Evolution)

by whitecraw, Thursday, April 03, 2008, 21:30 (6076 days ago) @ David Turell

An admirable example of rival theories, and it would be interesting to examine their respective merits along with Dawkins' and Dennett's adaptionism (the assumption that all or most traits are optimal adaptations ... Gould calls this sort of view the 'Panglossian paradigm' ... which lends evolution its supposed directionality or progressiveness) and Gould's 'spandrelism' (the observation that, contra-adaptionism, many physical traits evolve coincidentally to those favoured by natural selection). - I heard Morris at last year's Gifford Lectures; and he seems to believe that the palaeontological evidence can only be satisfactorily explained on the assumption of an inevitability to evolutionary history that the theory of evolution by natural selection denies. The implication that he draws from this is that we can only explain the evolution of human beings and intelligence on the assumption that it is towards this end-point that evolutionary history 'converges'; which is a version of the anthropic principle, and restores us to the pinnacle of creation. - Whether or not evolutionary change can be explained without the assumption of 'convergence' is, of course, a moot point and one which evolutionary scientists have yet to settle. Therefore I remain agnostic on the matter. But, during Morris' Gifford Lectures, I was reminded of the classic problem with the doctrine of predestination generally, whether in its religious or secular forms. It is essentially retrospective. Prospectively, however, the future course of history is indeterminate. Wandering aimlessly in the hills, I can stop and look back on the route I have taken and see how it inevitably leads to where I stand. But that does not make my wandering any less aimless. Retrospectively, it may seem that evolution has inevitably led to us; but it will hardly end with us, and prospectively who can tell what future changes there will be in the physical properties of populations of organisms? In hindsight, history may appear an inexorable march to where we happen to be, but as it unfolds the story is literally unpredictable.