The evolution of life on our planet. What could be a more interesting
and important example of a creative process? Randomness plays a crucial
role in this process--for example, randomly occurring mutations,
random changes in weather patterns, and random catastrophic events.
It is this aspect of the evolution of life that will be the topic of this
page. We should emphasize that the role of randomness is just one
ingredient. Animals and plants on our planet eventually die.
The continuation of life therefore depends on its ability to reproduce.
This creates the possibility of change, and an opportunity for both randomness
and natural selection to play a role. There are many difficult and controversial
issues surrounding the role of randomness in the origin and evolution of
life. For now, I will simply collect interesting and relevant links.
Genetic
Drift
Talk Origins
Chance
Evidence for Evolution
Theory
and History
Evolutionary
Theory
How the Genome Readies Itself for Evolution
Biopages
Was Darwin Wrong? - The Critics of Evolution
LURIA-DELBRUCK EXPERIMENT
Max Delbruck
The Fluctuation Test
Microbial Genetics
Bacterial Mutations
CAIRNS
Evolution Evolving
Directed Mutations
Towards a New Theory of Evolution
Back to Randomness Page