Evolution's Missing Link

also from my review of Human Accomplishment. Despite the awkward pun in the title, this is serious stuff, the transition from stings of molecules to working clumps of them.

Evolution?s Missing Link

Regardless of the participants, the game is the same. First, it seems true in both evolution and emergent networks that whatever arrives first influences whatever comes second. Second, emergent networks allow for close relationships within neighbors but rapid communication between even distant ones (Watts and Strogatz, 1998). Third, power law arrangements often lead to stability as environments and participants influence each other (Bak, 1996; Kauffman, 2000; Lewontin, 2000.) The little guys and the big ones each settle the other. For example, Michelangelo?s talent and drive organized a nest of supporters but also made a significant competitor less likely. Brahms delayed publishing his first symphony for 20 years because Beethoven had already written nine. Finally, duplication of genes, variation of the duplicates through mutation, and changes in developmental timing (Raff, 1996) assemble chains of nodes. Direct influence arises between nodes because a duplicated gene will address the same audience twice until mutation modifies the copy: strings of beads become networks as the duplicated, modified genetic material achieves novel outcomes that may also be constrained by the original, still active sequences. It appears that in human history as in the rest of nature, evolution arranges networks into pearls that we call individuals, species, or ecosystems: saltations separated by long threads that we call stasis.

Copyright, James Brody, 2004, all rights reserved.

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