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Actually, Corning combines hyperbole with an informative brief history of the Modern Synthesis to make the case for an "inclusive new synthesis." I propose a different kind of synthesis, one that attempts to characterize the evolutionary process and its key features - the HOW question. ...We need to know where living systems came from, how they got here, how they work, and perhaps where they are going. The new synthesis must not ignore a glaring lack: The ongoing evolutionary innovation that life on Earth exhibits has not been demonstrated in controlled experiments. The assertion that life's programming (genetic, epigenetic, synergistic, etc.) can somehow invent itself, without proof, remains an extraordinary claim. A theory in which life arrives, and the programming is acquired, deserves consideration. Otherwise, the new synthesis is not really "inclusive," and Corning's well-posed questions may remain unanswered. "Cooperative genes in smart systems: Toward an inclusive new synthesis in evolution," by Peter A. Corning, doi:10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2024.04.001, Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Jul 2024."Do we need a new theory of evolution?" by Stephen Buranyi, The Guardian, 28 Jun 2022. We don't need no friggin' new synthesis. We didn't even really need the old synthesis — W. Ford Doolittle. "Why we don't want another 'Synthesis'" by Arlin Stoltzfus, Biology Direct, 02 Oct 2017. The era of master theories based on ruling principles and grand schemes is long past. In Real or Artificial Life, Is Evolutionary Progress in a Closed System Possible?, 1999. Neo-Darwinism: The Current Paradigm has our early thoughts and updated links.
Life on Europa, Other Moons, Other Planets?... has many links about Europa and other icy moons.
Thanks, Rob Cooper. Life on Europa, Other Moons, Other Planets?... has links about possible nearby life.
But "evolution" has conflicting meanings. As history, the geological record tells a reliable story. But as a mechanism behind major (macroevolutionary) advances, the current science is unclear, undemonstrated and unlikely. The surveyors are disappointed by the students' lack of acceptance, "since evolution is going to continue to be central to biological literacy and – scientific literacy – in the 21st century." Which definition do the surveyors have in mind? Recognizing the difference could begin to relieve the gridlock that continues to bind the subject in the 21st century. "...the evolving attitudes of Gen X toward evolution," University of Michigan +PhysOrg, 12 Apr 2024; re:"The acceptance of evolution: A developmental view of Generation X in the United States," doi:10.1177/09636625241234815, by Jon D. Miller et al., Public Understanding of Science, 19 Mar 2024. ...Darwin's theory of evolution has two parts. One is its familiar historical account of our phylogeny; the other is the theory of natural selection, which purports to characterise the mechanism ...of all evolutionary changes in the innate properties of organisms. Why Pigs Don't Have Wings by Jerry Fodor, London Review of Books, 18 Oct 2007. Evolution vs Creationism discusses gridlock.
When we wonder about life on other worlds, octopuses should come to mind. Most of the liquid water in the solar system is in ice-covered oceans, which sounds favorable for octopuses. A female can produce up to 100,000 eggs the size of rice grains. Protected in icy comets, these eggs would easily endure interplanetary transport. Colleague Ted Steele has reasons to think so. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness, by Sy Montgomery, Washington Square Press, ISBN13: 9781451697728, 05 Apr 2016."Cause of Cambrian Explosion - Terrestrial or Cosmic?" by Ted Steele et al. (see section 11), Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, [PDF | local pdf], 2018. "Octopuses and squid are masters of RNA editing...," by Tina Hesman Saey, Science News, 19 May 2023. Just very interesting.
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