6To Be or Not To Be: Where Is Self-Preservation in Evolutionary Theory?

In Brett Calcott & Kim Sterelny (eds.), The Major Transitions in Evolution Revisited. MIT Press (2011)
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Abstract

This chapter highlights Carl Woese’s message about cellular complexity. It addresses the phenotypic distance between a putative, hypothetical ur-replicator or ur-chromosome and anything that can function as a cell that can effectively respond to its environment in ways that maintain its metabolic and physiological integrity. It describes what self-preserving and self-extending behavior in a chemical system minimally involves. This chapter shows that The Major Transitions in Evolution assumes that the emergence of a replicating molecular complex coincides with the emergence of structures with self-preserving characteristics. It then speculates a reason why the “missing transition” has not been missed.

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