Louis, Ard A. (Author)
Counterfactual questions such as “what would happen if you re-run the tape of life?” turn on the nature of the landscape of biological possibilities. Since the number of potential sequences that store genetic information grows exponentially with length, genetic possibility spaces can be so unimaginably vast that commentators frequently reach of hyper-astronomical metaphors that compare their size to that of the universe. Re-run the tape of life and the likelihood of encountering the same sequences in such hyper-astronomically large spaces is infinitesimally small, suggesting that evolutionary outcomes are highly contingent. On the other hand, the wide-spread occurrence of evolutionary convergence implies that similar phenotypes can be found again with relative ease. How can this be? Part of the solution to this conundrum must lie in the manner that genotypes map to phenotypes. By studying simple genotype–phenotype maps, where the counterfactual space of all possible phenotypes can be enumerated, it is shown that strong bias in the arrival of variation may explain why certain phenotypes are (repeatedly) observed in nature, while others never appear. This biased variation provides a non-selective cause for certain types of convergence. It illustrates how the role of randomness and contingency may differ significantly between genetic and phenotype spaces.
...More
Book
Merlin, Francesca;
(2013)
Mutations et aléas: le hasard dans la théorie de l'évolution
(/isis/citation/CBB001510451/)
Article
George R. McGhee;
(2016)
Can evolution be directional without being teleological?
(/isis/citation/CBB533310319/)
Article
Leonore Fleming;
Robert Brandon;
(2015)
Why flying dogs are rare: A general theory of luck in evolutionary transitions
(/isis/citation/CBB161586470/)
Book
Subramaniam, Banu;
(2014)
Ghost Stories for Darwin. The Science of Variation and the Politics of Diversity
(/isis/citation/CBB001500575/)
Article
Andrea Sullivan-Clarke;
(2019)
Misled by Metaphor: The Problem of Ingrained Analogy
(/isis/citation/CBB181919885/)
Article
Sylvain Billiard;
Alexandra Alvergne;
(2017)
Stochasticity in Cultural Evolution: A Revolution yet to Happen
(/isis/citation/CBB554015405/)
Article
Wagner, Andreas;
(2012)
The Role of Randomness in Darwinian Evolution
(/isis/citation/CBB001210577/)
Essay Review
Ariel Jonathan Roffé;
(2018)
Contemporary Perspectives on the Meaning, Roles, and Implications of Chance in Evolution
(/isis/citation/CBB603381812/)
Article
Peter Harrison;
(2016)
What was historical about natural history? Contingency and explanation in the science of living things
(/isis/citation/CBB972800240/)
Book
D. Ceccarelli;
G. Frezza;
(2018)
Predictability and the unpredictable. Life, evolution and behavior
(/isis/citation/CBB278694832/)
Book
Grant Ramsey;
Charles H. Pence;
(2016)
Chance in Evolution
(/isis/citation/CBB545855239/)
Article
Jean Gayon;
Richard M. Burian;
Laurent Loison;
(2017)
The Contributions – and Collapse – of Lamarckian Heredity in Pasteurian Molecular Biology: 1. Lysogeny, 1900–1960
(/isis/citation/CBB496049162/)
Book
Hull, David L.;
(2001)
Science and Selection: Essays on Biological Evolution and the Philosophy of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000100243/)
Book
Marianne Sommer;
(2016)
History Within: The Science, Culture, and Politics of Bones, Organisms, and Molecules
(/isis/citation/CBB646077894/)
Book
Gáspár Jékely;
(2017)
The Story of Genetics, Development and Evolution: A Historical Dialogue
(/isis/citation/CBB587565770/)
Thesis
Green, Lisa Anne;
(2012)
Science for Survival: The Modern Synthesis of Evolution and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study
(/isis/citation/CBB001567386/)
Book
Brown, William;
Fabian, Andrew C.;
(2010)
Darwin
(/isis/citation/CBB001023129/)
Book
Margulis, Lynn;
Sagan, Dorion;
(2002)
Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species
(/isis/citation/CBB000201471/)
Book
Tudge, Colin;
(2001)
Impact of the Gene: From Mendel's Peas to Designer Babies
(/isis/citation/CBB000102136/)
Article
Winnie, John;
(2000)
Information and structure in molecular biology: Comments on Maynard Smith
(/isis/citation/CBB000110641/)
Be the first to comment!