The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in EvolutionOxford University Press, 10 iun. 1993 - 734 pagini Stuart Kauffman here presents a brilliant new paradigm for evolutionary biology, one that extends the basic concepts of Darwinian evolution to accommodate recent findings and perspectives from the fields of biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics. The book drives to the heart of the exciting debate on the origins of life and maintenance of order in complex biological systems. It focuses on the concept of self-organization: the spontaneous emergence of order that is widely observed throughout nature Kauffman argues that self-organization plays an important role in the Darwinian process of natural selection. Yet until now no systematic effort has been made to incorporate the concept of self-organization into evolutionary theory. The construction requirements which permit complex systems to adapt are poorly understood, as is the extent to which selection itself can yield systems able to adapt more successfully. This book explores these themes. It shows how complex systems, contrary to expectations, can spontaneously exhibit stunning degrees of order, and how this order, in turn, is essential for understanding the emergence and development of life on Earth. Topics include the new biotechnology of applied molecular evolution, with its important implications for developing new drugs and vaccines; the balance between order and chaos observed in many naturally occurring systems; new insights concerning the predictive power of statistical mechanics in biology; and other major issues. Indeed, the approaches investigated here may prove to be the new center around which biological science itself will evolve. The work is written for all those interested in the cutting edge of research in the life sciences. |
Cuprins
The Structure of Rugged Fitness Landscapes | |
Biological Implications of Rugged Fitness Landscapes | |
The Structure of Adaptive Landscapes Underlying Protein Evolution | |
SelfOrganization and Adaptation in Complex Systems | |
The Dynamics of Coevolving Systems | |
Edge of Chaos | |
The Architecture of Genetic Regulatory Circuits and Its Evolution | |
The Dynamical Behaviors of Genetic Regulatory | |
LargeScale Features of Cell Differentiation | |
Cell Differentiation in Boolean Networks | |
Generic Properties | |
Implications for Ontogeny | |
Cell Types as a Combinatorial Epigenetic Code | |
Summary | |
THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF LIFE | |
The Origin of a Connected Metabolism | |
Hypercycles and Coding | |
Models of Functional Integration | |
Approaches to Studying | |
Applications to Biological Neural and Economic Systems | |
Summary | |
Selection for Cell Types | |
Morphology Maps and the Spatial Ordering of Integrated Tissues | |
The Four Color Wheels Model of Positional Specification | |
Turing and Beyond | |
Summary | |
Alte ediții - Afișează-le pe toate
The Origins of Order: Self-organization and Selection in Evolution Stuart A. Kauffman Previzualizare limitată - 1993 |
Termeni și expresii frecvente
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