@jeeprs,
jeeprs;168839 wrote:What if, however, it was found that the basic tendencies for evolutionary development were similar to those governing (say) crystal formation, albeit at a higher level of complexity. It would follow that if you were to discover another carbon-based life-form (and the possibility of there being silicon-based life-forms is science fiction at this point) on another planet, it might bear surprising similarities to those here, as well as differences.
And if this were so, would it indicate the existence of 'laws of biological form' analogous to the laws of chemistry, but again at a higher level?
Well, obviously in this hypothetical it would indicate just that, almost by definition. After all, what are laws except mathematical generalizations that represent certain "tendencies", like the tendency of objects to fall with an acceleration of 9.32 m/s^2?
And it's not an intrinsically silly idea either. Developmental biologists of the late 19th/early 20th century spent a lot of time seeking the "laws of form" for organisms. One of the greatest exponents of this view is D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, and his
On Growth and Form is the Bible of this movement in developmental biology, and still much respected by certain biologists (myself included). Much of their work has been superseded by evolutionary developmental biology, which is the more fruitful research program, and yet there is a core there of basic reality that we should not throw out: namely, that there are physical constraints that shape the final organism, like the ability of proteins to diffuse across a gradient and so on.
Nevertheless, in the real world, I don't think it would turn out that these physical constraints would be sufficient to produce alien beings that look at all like Earth creatures.
---------- Post added 05-26-2010 at 03:06 AM ----------
Alan McDougall;168954 wrote:The problem of creating a complex eye by the process of evolution is in my opinion the "irreducible complexity of the eye"
There is no such problem. Your beliefs have been presumed upon by propagandists with ideological problems with evolution.
There are, however, numerous problems with the notion of "irreducible complexity". First, it's based on a fallacy. The argument can be boiled down to the following syllogism:
P1) Designed objects exhibit irreducible complexity.
P2) Certain biological systems exhibit irreducible complexity.
C) Certain biological systems are designed objects.
That's the fallacy of the undistributed middle, so no matter how much 'evidence' Behe piles up for the minor premise, the conclusion will not follow. Not that Behe's evidence amounts to anything other than noting that evolutionary explanations then didn't exist for the systems he cites, which is nothing more than the fallacy of arguing from ignorance, which is a dangerous place to be arguing from. Much of the argumentative ground under his feet has been eroded by subsequent research (e.g. an evolutionary pathway for photosynthesis was found in 2002* as a result of whole-genome analyses of photosynthetic prokaryotes [organisms without a true nucleus]).
Furthermore, the argument to irreducible complexity assumes a view of evolution that is teleological, knocks it down, and then uses that as an argument for...
teleology!
The only way Behe's "irreducible complexity" makes sense is if evolution operates by the successive addition and perfect of biological "parts" to a
given end, which is teleological by definition. Behe observes that evolution doesn't work this way and declares victory, which is an act of unprecedented chutzpah. But as one can see above from the photosynthesis example, evolution that is
not teleological fits the evidence best and is not affected in the slightest by Behe's argument.
Furthermore, the evolution of eyes is a subject that's been adequately dealt with since I was in high school (and even before Behe published
Darwin's Black Box, which appeared in print at the start of my junior year in high school). A friend of mine maintains an excellent and well-laid out website, and he's got this argument addressed on his site:
Evolution -- Evolution of the Eye
* Raymond J, Zhaxybayeva O, Gogarten JP,
et al. (2002)
"Whole-Genome Analysis of Photosynthetic Prokaryotes." Science 298: 1616-1620. (link opens a PDF file)