Looking at simple forms like the snowflake, [Kauffmann] he noted that its “delicate sixfold symmetry tells us that order can arise without the benefit of natural selection”. Kauffman says natural selection is about competition for resources and snowflakes are not alive — they don’t need it.
See link below for more on fractals/maths in nature
http://math2033.uark.edu/wiki/index.php/Types_of_Fractals
“Declaration of Independence from Darwinism” an article based upon Suzan Mazur’s x·posé on what has become known as the Woodstock of biology – a gathering of scientists (the Altenberg 16) who met in 2009 to discuss a new way forward in evolutionary thinking – an alternative to Darwinism. Stuart Kauffman was one of the scientists attending as is the focus of this post.
Developmental biologist Stuart Kauffman is clearly one who thinks we must expand evolutionary theory. Kauffman, now head of the Biocomplexity and Informatics Institute at the University of Calgary, is known for his decades-long investigations into self-organization.
He’s been described by one evolutionary biologist as a “very creative man, try reading one of his books” who said in the next breath that “if he [Kauffman] really put an effort into understanding evolutionary biology — the basic theoretical framework that we have — I think he could have come a lot further”.
Meanwhile, Kauffman’s had a breathtaking career, beginning as a medical doctor, honored as a MacArthur fellow (genius) and has worked with Nobel prize winner Murray Gell-Mann at the Santa Fe Institute where he first studied self-organization. Looking at simple forms like the snowflake, he noted that its “delicate sixfold symmetry tells us that order can arise without the benefit of natural selection”. Kauffman says natural selection is about competition for resources and snowflakes are not alive — they don’t need it.
But he reminded me in our phone conversation that Darwin doesn’t explain how life begins, “Darwin starts with life. He doesn’t get you to life.”
Thus the scramble at Altenberg for a new theory of evolution.
Below is the discription of Kauffman’s book on Amazon for anyone is interested. This post is related to another one I recently posted under the title of Turing Enigma: another alternative theory to Darwinism.
I hope you enjoy
Please pass on to anyone you think might be interested (share on Twitter/facebook), all the usual places and the topic is related to much I write about in my fourth book of the Darwin Delusion series: Book One by the same name is out now on Amazon and is cheaper than a cappucino Grande and less frothy.
Maria Brigit
check in again any time. Here is the Amazon description for Kauffmann’s book