09.20.08
Scoop/Mazur: A. Lima-De-Faria: Autoevolution
A. Lima-De-Faria: Autoevolution, Atoms To Humans
Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 4:50 pm
Column: Suzan Mazur
A. Lima-De-Faria: Autoevolution, Atoms To Humans
By Suzan Mazur
“For a long time the experimental studies carried out on elementary particles, chemical elements and minerals did not reveal that they had an evolution of their own. This picture has been drastically changed in recent years by the finding that the elementary particles, the chemical elements and the minerals have each had an autonomous evolution. Hence, three separate evolutions occurred before the biological one emerged.
Evolution starts when the universe is born. And this is not a loose process since the elementary particles already show specific ancestors and specific rules of evolution. Later the chemical elements of the periodic table also display an ordered and well-defined evolution. Still later, the minerals also undergo an evolution of their own. These three separate evolutions preceded the biological one.
It is this new evidence on the physico-chemical phenomena that now allows biological evolution to be placed in a completely different context. Most important is the fact that, since biological evolution was anteceded by these three levels, it became a prisoner of these previous evolutions. The laws and rules that they followed created the frame from which biological evolution could not and cannot depart.
I may confess that I have a certain aversion for creating new terms. However, in this case I felt compelled to coin the word autoevolution. It describes the transformation phenomenon which is inherent to the construction of matter and energy. This consequently produced and canalized the emergence of forms and functions.”
– Antonio Lima-de-Faria, Evolution without Selection. Form and Function by Autoevolution, 1988, Elsevier, New York (page 18)