Might organisms have the power to direct their own evolution? Image: Drew Gardner/Eyevine
IF YOU want to make steam rise from an evolutionary biologist’s ears, try suggesting that evolution might have a goal or purpose. The idea has been anathema for more than a century, ever since biologists rejected Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s idea that giraffes that stretched to reach high branches could pass their long necks on to their offspring. Evolutionary change, we know, results from random mutation and natural selection, and any notion of purpose smacks of creationism and its close cousin, intelligent design. “That’s the third rail of evolutionary theory,” says Peter Corning – anyone who treads near it risks a severe shock to their reputation.
But Corning, director of the Institute for the Study of Complex Systems in Friday Harbor, Washington, is one of a handful of people who are tiptoeing, gingerly, into the danger zone by suggesting that organisms can guide their own evolution. And they are not talking about a few rare curiosities. If they are right, this evolutionary steering has played a crucial role in the history of life on Earth. It may even have been significant in the evolution of humans.
It is important to note at the outset what these radicals are not saying. They are not saying that evolution has an intrinsic tendency towards larger size, greater complexity or increasing intelligence. They are not saying that organisms can order up the mutations they need whenever they need them – although individuals might be able …
