Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2010 Jan 12;365(1537):133-45. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0154.
Evolutionary biology rejoices in the diversity of life, but this comes at a cost: other than working in the common framework of neo-Darwinian evolution, specialists in, for example, diatoms and mammals have little to say to each other. Accordingly, their research tends to track the particularities and peculiarities of a given group and seldom enquires whether there are any wider or deeper sets of explanations. Here, I present evidence in support of the heterodox idea that evolution might look to a general theory that does more than serve as a tautology ('evolution explains evolution'). Specifically, I argue that far from its myriad of products being fortuitous and accidental, evolution is remarkably predictable. Thus, I urge a move away from the continuing obsession with Darwinian mechanisms, which are entirely uncontroversial. Rather, I emphasize why we should seek explanations for ubiquitous evolutionary convergence, as well as the emergence of complex integrated systems. At present, evolutionary theory seems to be akin to nineteenth-century physics, blissfully unaware of the imminent arrival of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Physics had its Newton, biology its Darwin: evolutionary biology now awaits its Einstein.
进化生物学对生命的多样性感到欣喜，但这是有代价的：除了在新达尔文主义进化的共同框架内工作外，硅藻和哺乳动物等领域的专家彼此之间几乎没有什么可说的。因此，他们的研究往往跟踪特定群体的特殊性和特殊性，很少询问是否存在更广泛或更深层次的解释。在这里，我提出证据支持异端邪说，即进化可能需要一种不仅仅是同义反复的一般理论（“进化解释进化”）。具体来说，我认为进化远非其无数产物都是偶然和偶然的，而是具有惊人的可预测性。因此，我敦促人们摆脱对达尔文机制的持续关注，因为达尔文机制完全没有争议。相反，我强调为什么我们应该为普遍存在的进化趋同以及复杂集成系统的出现寻找解释。目前，进化理论似乎类似于 19 世纪的物理学，对即将到来的量子力学和广义相对论一无所知。物理学有它的牛顿，生物学有它的达尔文：进化生物学现在等待它的爱因斯坦。
