Is There Purpose in Biology? by Denis Alexander

Author:Denis Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857217158
Publisher: Lion Hudson
Published: 2018-06-20T00:00:00+00:00

We say that these events are accidental, due to chance. And since they constitute the only possible source of modifications in the genetic text, itself the sole repository of the organism’s hereditary structures, it necessarily follows that chance alone is at the source of every innovation, of all creation in the biosphere. Pure chance, absolutely free but blind, at the very root of the stupendous edifice of evolution: this central concept of modern biology is no longer one among other possible or even conceivable hypotheses. It is today the sole conceivable hypothesis, the only one compatible with observed and tested fact. And nothing warrants the supposition (or the hope) that conceptions about this should, or ever could, be revised. (Monod, 1997, p. 110)

Well of course the scientific conclusions on the role of chance have indeed been massively revised by more recent scientific advances as the discussion both above and below makes clear. But the interesting point here is how, based on the known science of his time (1970), Monod then goes on to make metaphysical inferences, as already noted. Monod was not the first scientist to extrapolate wildly from the currently understood properties of the world to conclusions that lie well beyond science. Here we have what sounds like Tyche, the Greek goddess of chance, together with Fortuna her Roman counterpart. Chance has become an agency, the “Lady Luck” so beloved by National Lottery winners.

Suffice it to say that Chance is not an agency and doesn’t “do” anything. Chance is simply our way of describing our own position as observers in relation to various properties of matter, no more and no less. Despite this obvious fact, it is remarkable how often the language of “Chance as agent” creeps into otherwise sober scientific and philosophical texts.

What do we mean by “chaos”?

In daily speech “chaos” is used to mean “without order”. “It was absolute chaos in London today due to the strike on the underground”, or perhaps “Sarah, your room is really chaotic, tidy it up immediately!” The technical meaning of the word “chaos” is quite different. Chaos theory is particularly associated with the name of the American mathematician Edward Lorenz (1917–2008). It was his time serving in the US Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1946 that really got him thinking (Palmer, 2008). In the early days of desk computers (around 1960), Lorenz started using them to see if he could model weather systems mathematically and even make predictions about what the weather would be like in a week’s time. Initially he used 12 different variables in generating his models. What was really puzzling for Lorenz was that when he undertook his analysis with what he thought were identical starting conditions, his computer generated quite different predictions about the weather. Was there something wrong with the computer? Probably not. In the end, Lorenz discovered that even changing the sixth decimal place in one of his variables (or similar) could dramatically change the outcome. In other words, tiny differences in the starting

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