It may sound like an oxymoron to anyone who associates “Darwinism” with biologist Richard Dawkins’ “selfish gene,” or with poet Alfred Lord Tennyson’s carnivorous image – “nature, red in tooth and claw.” Indeed, neo-Darwinism, the reigning paradigm in evolutionary biology for the past three decades, promotes an image of “ruthless” individual competition as the very essence of Darwinian evolution. (Neo-Darwinism was based most especially on the early theoretical work of George Williams and William Hamilton, who later modified their views, not on Dawkins’ popularizations.)
But Holistic Darwinism is not an oxymoron. It’s a candidate name for a major paradigm shift that has been going on in evolutionary biology (and related fields) during the past several years. It is a way of characterizing the evolutionary implications of several convergent theoretical developments, all of which are focused on, or related to, the evolution of organized complexity in living organisms (which is one of their most salient features, after all) as well as, equally important, our ever-broadening understanding of the multiple, and multi-leveled sources of causation in the natural world. In fact, the emerging new paradigm is closer to Darwin’s Darwinism (he’s often been slandered) than to the hard-edged, cutthroat, individualistic model that the neo-Darwinians have purveyed. Some of these recent developments, or trends, include the following:
•A growing respect for the fact that evolution, and natural selection, occurs at multiple levels, from genes to ecosystems.
•A revitalization of group selection theory, which implies a major role for cooperative phenomena.
•A realization that “symbiogenesis” (the emergence of symbiotic partnerships) has played an important role in the evolution of complexity (our eukaryotic cells being perhaps the most stunning example).
•Advances in game theory, which have provided the theoretical basis for a much more balanced view of evolution as a dualistic process in which cooperation shares the stage with competition.
•The rise of “genomics” and “systems biology” which are focused on the systemic properties, and processes, in living systems.
•An outpouring of research and theoretical work on the role of developmental dynamics, “phenotypic plasticity” and organism-environment interactions as shaping influences in evolutionary continuities and changes.
•A flood of publications on the role of behavior, social learning and cultural transmission as “pacemakers” of evolutionary change.
•And last, but not least, the broad, “bioeconomic” theory of complexity in evolution that I first proposed in The Synergism Hypothesis (McGraw-Hill, 1983), a theory that is fully consistent with Darwin’s theory (rather than positing some “law” of evolution), has finally gained some traction. (For details, see my website: www.complexsystems.org)
There’s more, but the combined effect of this explosion of exciting theoretical and research work is the growing need for a new way of viewing the evolutionary process. Some theorists have suggested replacing the selfish gene image with the “cooperative gene” (the title of a 1996 journal article of mine and a more recent book by biologist Mark Ridley). But this label is equally one-sided and downplays the undeniable importance of competition in nature, and human societies. But more important, the emerging new paradigm is focused on a different set of questions: How have “wholes” evolved over time? How do they work, and what is their significance in evolution? Indeed, the new paradigm is more about competition via cooperation than some conflict between them. Thus, I have proposed that we use the term “Holistic Darwinism.” (It’s also the title of my most recent book, Holistic Darwinism: Synergy, Cybernetics and the Bioeconomics of Evolution (University of Chicago Press, 2005.)
Thought for the day: “Embryos are put together by all the working genes in the developing organism, in collaboration with one another….We have a picture of teams of genes all evolving toward cooperative solutions to problems….It is the ‘team’ that evolves.” – Richard Dawkins (The Blind Watchmaker)
An Introduction
In his path-breaking book, Beyond Reductionism (1969), the famed novelist and polymath Arthur Koestler remarked that "true innovation occurs when things are put together for the first time that had been separate." He was talking about synergy, of course, a phenomenon that is still greatly underrated and vastly more important even than Koestler imagined. I call it "nature's magic."
Synergy is in fact one of the great governing principles of the natural world; it ranks right up there with such heavyweight concepts as gravity, energy, information and entropy as one of the keys to understanding how the world works. It has been a wellspring of creativity in the evolution of the universe; it has greatly influenced the overall trajectory of life on Earth; it played a decisive role in the emergence of humankind; it is vital to the workings of every modern society; and it is no exaggeration to say that our ultimate fate depends on it. Indeed, every day, in a thousand different ways, our lives are shaped, and re-shaped, by synergy.
All of these grandiose-sounding claims are discussed in detail, with many hundreds of examples, in three of my books: The Synergism Hypothesis (McGraw-Hill, 1983), Nature's Magic (Cambridge University Press, 2003), and Holistic Darwinism (University of Chicago Press, 2005), as well as in many of my articles for professional journals. Some of these publications are available at my website: http://www.complexsystems.org/
The purpose of this blog is to provide a continuing update on synergy and an opportunity for some dialogue on this important and still underappreciated phenomenon, along with commentaries on various topics - political, economic, and social -- from a synergy-monger's perspective. The tag-lines for each entry, with a "thought for the day," are the unregulated firecrackers that go off in my mind from time to time.
Peter Corning pacorning@complexsystems.org
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Synergy is in fact one of the great governing principles of the natural world; it ranks right up there with such heavyweight concepts as gravity, energy, information and entropy as one of the keys to understanding how the world works. It has been a wellspring of creativity in the evolution of the universe; it has greatly influenced the overall trajectory of life on Earth; it played a decisive role in the emergence of humankind; it is vital to the workings of every modern society; and it is no exaggeration to say that our ultimate fate depends on it. Indeed, every day, in a thousand different ways, our lives are shaped, and re-shaped, by synergy.
All of these grandiose-sounding claims are discussed in detail, with many hundreds of examples, in three of my books: The Synergism Hypothesis (McGraw-Hill, 1983), Nature's Magic (Cambridge University Press, 2003), and Holistic Darwinism (University of Chicago Press, 2005), as well as in many of my articles for professional journals. Some of these publications are available at my website: http://www.complexsystems.org/
The purpose of this blog is to provide a continuing update on synergy and an opportunity for some dialogue on this important and still underappreciated phenomenon, along with commentaries on various topics - political, economic, and social -- from a synergy-monger's perspective. The tag-lines for each entry, with a "thought for the day," are the unregulated firecrackers that go off in my mind from time to time.
Peter Corning pacorning@complexsystems.org
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Monday, November 26, 2007
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