Dear John and FIS Colleagues,
Many thanks for this opening text of the NY Lecture. Indeed
you have presented us an intricate panorama on one of the most obscure
scientific problems of our time: the central theory of biology. As you say,
we find with astonishment that there is literally no cell biology in
evolution theory. And I would ad that there is no "information biology"
either. A central theory becomes sort of a big Hall, where plenty of
disciplinary corridors converge and later criss-cross among themselves.
Darwinian theory is not that common hall for the really big, big science
domain of biology. What are or where are the elements to rebuild the common
Hall of the biological domain? I quote from your opening text:
"It is as if the unicellular state delegates its progeny to interact with
the environment as agents, collecting data to inform the recapitulating
unicell of ecological
changes that are occurring. Through the acquisition and filtering of
epigenetic marks via meiosis, fertilization, and embryogenesis, even on into
adulthood, where the endocrine system dictates the length and depth of the
stages of the life cycle, now known to be under epigenetic control, the
unicell remains in effective synchrony with environmental changes."
It is really brilliant: a heads up reversal perspective. I think out of
these ideas there are plenty of disciplinary excursions to make. One is
"informational", another "topological". Putting together two different
algorithmic descriptions and making them to build a torus (i.e., gastrula")
as a universal departure for multicellularity also reminds the ideas of
Stuart Pivart ("Omnia Ex Torus") about the primordials of multicellularity
and the role of mechanical forces in the patterning of developmental
processes.
Echoing the ideas
discussed in the Royal Society meeting (November 2016), there is a pretty
long list of elements to take into account together with epigenetic
inheritance (symbiogenesis, viruses and mobile elements, multilevel
selection, niche construction, genomic evolution...). As I have suggested
above, essential informational ideas are missing too, and this absence of
the informational perspective in the ongoing evo discussions is not a good
thing.
i any case, it is such a great theme to ponder...
Best wishes to all
--Pedro
On Wed, 3 Jan 2018 07:15:43 -0800 JOHN TORDAY wrote:
Dear FIS Colleagues, I have attached my New Year Lecture at the invitation of
Professor Pedro Clemente Marijuan Fernandez. The content relates a novel
perspective on the mechanism of evolution from a cellular-molecular
vantage-point. I welcome any and all comments and criticisms in the spirit of
sharing ideas openly and
constructively. Best Wishes,
John S. Torday PhD
Professor
Evolutionary Medicine
UCLA
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