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Accordingtotheneo-Darwinists, the tree

of evolution splits anddevelops in a singlemanner:Geneticchang-esconferringacompeti-tive advantage are pre-ferentially passed on tothe next generation,leadingtodifferentkindsof specialization and adevelopment towardsmorecompetitive formsoflife(Figure 1).Iintendtoshowthatthisideaissocompletelyabsurd,thatitmaynolongerevenbeconsideredasabasisfromwhichtoposit“alternative”theories.

Thiswilloccuronseveralcounts:thefailureofanevolutionary“tree”tocorrespondtotheorganismicdif-ferencesanddevelopmentactuallyobserved,thegreatvarietyofhered-itarymechanismsbeyondgenomictransformations, and, most impor-

tantly, the fraud of at-temptingamechanicalexplanation, whereeachstatecomestoex-istbecauseofpreviousstates.

Additionally, mecha-nismsofembryologicaland cellular develop-ment and communica-tionwillbeconsideredfrom the standpoint ofdynamics and cosmicradiation.

The Trouble with TreesThere are many ways of con-

ceptualizingandorganizinggroupsofphenomena.Thecharacteristicofatreeastheschemeisthateachele-mentorbranchhasoneuniqueim-mediate ancestor. On a structural(orphysical)tree,eachleafhasonetwigthatitspringsfrom,whichhasonlyonelimbitgrowsoutof,com-ingfromonebranch,which,likeallbranches,comesfromatrunk.Un-der this organizational scheme,there is no possibility of brancheshavingjointchildren,oflimbscom-biningintoanewtrunk,orofleavesconnectingwitheachother.Whenatreestructureisimposedontheevo-lutionary development of life, it ispre-supposedthat there isnohori-zontaldevelopmentorconnection,

Evolution and Organismic CommunicationbyJasonRoss

The “Tree of Life” included in Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) represents all evolutionary develop-ment as vertical differentiation, ex-cluding any horizontal connections. This caricature of Darwin appeared on the cover of a Parisian satirical magazine of the 1880s.

Figure 1DARWIN’S ‘TREE OF LIFE’

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butonlyverticalchanges,i.e.,changesfromorganismstotheirdirectdescendants.1

Anevolutionary tree isparticularly ill-suited forunder-standingthedevelopmentofsingle-celledlife(e.g.,bacte-ria).Anancestral,generationalapproachtodevelopmentisfamiliar tous in the sexual reproductionof animals andplants,butunicellularorganismsdonotengageinsexualreproduction in this familiar form. Instead (following thetypical,but inappropriate, language), “mother”cells splitasexuallyintoidentical“daughter”cells,withouttheneedfora“father.”Unicellularorganismsdo,however,engageinbe-haviorthatseemstoresemblethesexualreproductionofhigherspecies.Thistakestwoforms:oneofwhichappearstobecharacteristicoftheorganismsthemselves(plasmidtrans-fer),whiletheothertakesplaceinalargercontext(viruses).

Inthecaseofplasmidtransfer,onebacteriumtransfersapieceofitsgenometoanother,byexcisingasegmentandcopyingit,thenphysicallypassingitofftoanotherbacteriumwhichincorporatesitintoitsgenome.Inthisworldofwhatisknownashorizontalgenetransfer,theapplication of a tree is questionable. It would only bethroughthedevelopmentofdifferentspecies,2incapableof engaging in such plasmid transfer, that the distinctbranchesofatreecouldbeformed.However,thenot-in-frequenttransferofplasmidsamongwhatareclassifiedasdifferentbacterialspecies,forcesthecharacterizationoflinksbetweenspeciesasanet:Itissaidtobereticulate.3

Whilemostvirusesonlyaddtheirowngeneticmaterialtotheirhosts,itisalsopossibleforvirusestopickuppartsoftheirhosts’genomes,andtransferthemtoothers.Thisintroduces a factor beyond direct plasmid transfer be-tweenbacteria:virusesareanewvector.Thenumerouscasesofvirusesthatinfectacrossspecieslines,indicateagainthatitisimpossibletohavebranchesonatreethatareunabletointeract.

Tantalizingly,because their functionalcycle liesout-sideanyparticularspeciesassuch,virusesmustbecon-sideredaspotentiallyamajorfactorintheevolutionoflifeasawhole.

Your Father’s Eyes; Your Mother’s Sweet ToothWhilethegenomeindisputablyplaysanessentialrole

inknownformsoflife,allowingfortheeasyproductionof

1.  As an example, there are many efforts to represent the Indo-Euro-pean languages with an image of a tree, which, while it has many mer-its, makes it difficult to graphically represent such linguistic phenom-ena  as  the  Norman  Conquest  of  England,  and  the  introduction  of French words. An example tree: http://bit.ly/bzgDwP

2.  I use this word with concern. A species is defined for higher, sexu-ally reproducing life, as a group of organisms that are able to mate and produce  fertile offspring. This definition does not apply  to bacteria; there is no universally accepted definition of species for bacteria.

3.  As with so many English nouns, scientists are fond of using the lon-ger,  Latin-based  adjectival  form,  reticulate,  instead  of  the  perfectly good English net or net-like.

proteins,includingthosenotcurrentlyexistinginacell,thereismuchmoretohereditythananorganism’sDNAsequence.Fourexampleswillbediscussedhere:introns,geneexpression,genomictaggingandconformation,andotherbiologicalnon-geneticinheritance.

Anorganism’sgenomecodesfortheproductionofpro-teins,whichperformmanyfunctionsinacell(e.g.,asen-zymes).Itisnowknownthatcodons,tripletsofthebasepairsmakingupDNA,codeforspecificaminoacids,andthatstringsofDNAaredecoded(transcribed)intoaminoacids,whicharethenstrungtogetherintoproteins.Whiletheprocessbywhichthisoccursisbynomeanscomplete-lyunderstood,enoughisknowntobeabletopointoutsomeanomalies.Intronsareoneexample.

Inallhigherformsoflife(plantsandanimals),alargepor-tionofDNAisnotused:Inthetranscriptionprocess,seg-mentsoftheDNAseemtobethrownawaywhilethere-maining pieces are stitched together, and then form theappropriate protein. These non-expressed segments arecalledintrons,whilethesegmentsthatarethentranscribedintotheirproductsarecalledexons.Thereisasyetnoclearunderstandingofhow the transcriptionprocess “knows”whetheracertainsegmentofDNAisanintronoranexon.Furthermore,undercertainconditions,aportionofDNAmaychangeitsrolefromintrontoexon.Whatwouldbetheimmediatecompetitiveadvantageindevelopingarepertoireofpotentiallyexpressibleintronsthatarenotyetbeingused?

Whilethegenomecanbethoughtofasagiganticreci-pe-book,itcannotitselfexplainwhichdishesanorganismdecidestocookatagivenmoment.Forexample,thereisnodifferencebetweentheDNAinthecellsthatproduceyourhairandthecellsthatproduceyourtoenails,butitcertainlyisagoodthingthateachcellremembersitsprop-errole!Thefieldofembryologytakesupthequestionofprogressivecelldifferentiationinsingleorganisms, typi-callywiththesameDNAinallcells.Astheembryodevel-opsandtissuesform,thegenomeisselectivelyexpressedtocorrespondtothecell’sroleintheentireorganism.

Severalotherfactorsareatplayindeterminingexpres-sion.DNAcanitselfbe“marked”byreplacingahydro-genonabasepair(cytosine)withamethyl(CH3)group,inaprocessknownasmethylation.MethylatedDNAislesslikelytobetranscribed.ThehistonesaroundwhichtheDNAwrapsitselfplayaroleindeterminingitsconfor-mation(shape),whichcanalsobeafactorindeterminingwhichgenesaretobeexpressed.

Additionally, it is possible to inherit behaviors in anon-chemical-biologicalway.Behaviorscan,bythein-ternal biological environmental differences theyengender,4altergeneexpression.Thisdifferentbehav-ior,andtheresultingchangeinexpressedphenotype,is

4.  Dietary preferences, for example. Experiments with human moth-ers  fed carrot  juice,  and pregnant  rabbits  fed  juniper berries,  have shown that their young develop preferences for these foods.

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heritable,withoutbeingachangeinthegenomeitself.Changesingeneexpressionarealsodeterminedbyenvi-

ronmental factorsoutside theorganism. In fact, thereareplentyofheritablechangesthatarenotgeneticincharacteratall.5Changes incellmembranesarepasseddirectly todaughtercells,asaremitochondria.

Itisthuspossibleforevolutionarychangestotakeplaceveryrapidly,bychangesinthesetofgenesthatareexpressed,andnot simplychanges in thecompositionof thegenesthemselves.Arecentarticlehasdemonstrated thathigherapescontainanumberofgenesincommonwithhumans,buttheapesdonotexpressthem,whilehumanbeingsdo.6Whatrolemaycosmicphenomenaplayintriggeringsuchchangesingeneexpression?Whatpotentialexists,waitingtobetappedinto?

Returningtoviruses,itisremarkablethat,inhumanbe-ings,notonlyisthemajorityofourDNAcomposedofintrons,butmostofitisviralDNA.Thebasisforthatstate-mentisthelysogenicbehaviorofviruses.Whilevirusescan“commandeer”ahostcell,anduseitsmachinerytoreproducethemselves,eventuallycausingthecelltopopopen(lyse)andreleasecopiesofitself,theycanalsohopintothehostcell’sgenome.Thisprocess,calledlysogeny,allows a virus to remain incorporated into ahost’s ge-nome,andoffernewgeneticmaterial.Althoughitisinte-gratedintothehostgenome,viralDNAmaintainscharac-teristiccodesequencesrevealingitsorigin.

Inaremarkableexampleoftheroleofvirusesinevolu-tion,thehumanplacenta’ssyncytium(theregionacrosswhichnutrientsfromthemotherandwasteproductsfromthechildtransfuse)requiresaproteinforasingularbehav-ior.Thecellsofthesyncytiumlosetheircellmembranesandmergeintoagigantic,multi-nucleatedcell.Thepro-teinallowingforthistransformationiscodedforinviralDNA!7Virusescouldbeservingasvectorstosetupthedynamicfortheexpressionofrevolutionarilynewpheno-typiccharacteristics,justwaitingfortheappropriatecuetocomeintoplay.

Theresponseofvirusestoveryspecificelectromagnet-icradiation,particularlyintheultravioletrange,andthe

5.  Jablonka and Lamb cite M.M. Clark et al.’s work on Mongolian ger-bils. Female gerbils,  in a male-dominated uterine environment, de-velop different behavioral characteristics, including territorial aggres-siveness, and male-biased litters. Their female children will then be more likely to have male-biased litters, etc. See Jablonka and Lamb, p. 146, and M.M. Clark et al., 1993, “Hormonally mediated inheritance of acquired characteristics in Mongolian gerbils,” Nature, vol. 364, no. 6439; Aug. 19, 1993, p. 712.

6.  For a similar article: http://tiny.cc/gq12v

7.  I owe this example to Frank Ryan’s Virolution (see References). The required protein is coded by the envelope gene of a human en-dogenous  retrovirus,  known  as  HERV-W. The  characteristic  “long terminal repeat” bookends of viral genomes allow their identification in host genomes. See Virolution, and Sha Mi, Xinhua Lee, Xiang-ping, et al., “Syncytin is a captive retroviral envelope protein involved in  human  placental  morphogenesis,”  Nature,  vol.  403,  no.  6771; Feb. 17, 2000, pp.  785-89.

many unanswered questions of the determination ofwhichpartsofthegenomearetobeexpressed,givetheopportunityforextraterrestrialfactorstoplayaroleintheevolutionoflifeonEarth.

Evolutionary Leaps and DirectionHere,wereachtheepistemologicalkerneloftheerror

of neo-Darwinism: mechanism. Under a mechanicalview,eachstateofasystemcanbeunderstoodasresult-ing from the previous state.This rules out teleologicalconsiderationsandtheopportunityforfunctionaldynam-icwholes anddirections. Several topicswill bebrieflyconsideredhere:thecorrelationbetweencosmicradia-tion and biodiversity, the phenomenon of punctuatedequilibrium,anddynamics.

Compellingevidenceexiststhatthereisastrongcorre-lation,statisticallyimpossibletoignore,betweencosmicradiationincidentupontheEarthandcyclesofbiodiver-sity,measuredas thenumberofgeneraaliveatagiventimeperiod.8Suchacorrelationdemandsthatevolutionnotbeconsideredasaterrestrialphenomenon,andim-plicitlyforcestheentireuniversetobethecontextforanyscientificstudy.Themeansbywhichtheintention,givenexpressionthroughcosmicradiation,actsonlife,haveyettobestudiedtothedegreetheywarrant.Oneobviousini-tialpossibility, is theroleofviruses.Sincesomevirusescanbetriggeredtogofromlysogenic(dormant)tolytic(active)statesbyultravioletradiation,thepossibilitycon-frontsusthattheroleofvirusesasevolutionarymediatorsisorchestratedonagalacticlevel(Figure 2).9Morewillbesaidonthepotentialforradiationtodirectthedevelop-mentoflifeinthenextsection.

Thosestudyingevolutionaryhistoryfacetheemergenceofpunctuatedequilibriaofwhole-Earthevolutionarystages.Single-celledorganismsexistedontheplanetformorethanabillionyearsbeforemulticellularlifefinallybegantoform.Inanotherexample,theprocessknownastheCambrianExplosion (about570millionyearsago),a tremendouslyyeastyperiodofevolutionarydevelopment,tookonly5-9millionyears.Ingeneral,whiledifferentspeciesexistinthefossilrecord,“halfway-species”arehardlytobefound,andmanyevolutionarytechnologicalupshifts(e.g.,flyingbirds)seemhardtoimagineashavingbeendrivenbyintermedi-atecompetitiveadvantages.10

Someneo-Darwinistsholdthatstressfulenvironmentsleadtomoremutations,anhypothesisforwhichthereis

8.  Sky  Shields,  “Kesha  Rogers’  Victory  Launches  the  Rebirth  of  a Mars Colonization Policy”: http://larouchepac.com/node/13802

9.  Not only does cosmic radiation originate from distant locations, the entire galactic electromagnetic field can play a role in which radiations are directed towards the Solar System at any given time.

10.  What use is the development of a wing that is completely non-functional for flight? How would a useless appendage repeatedly be selected for, until it is able to serve a purpose?

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someevidence,butevenseemingly“close”genesrequirealargenumberofchanges,whichwouldseemdifficult,ifthey proceeded randomly.11 Again, if the potential fornewphenotypicexpressionsisbeingdeveloped,withoutbeingexpressedalongtheway,weneednotworryaboutcompetitiveadvantagesoflifealongthepathofdevelop-ment—lifemaysimplyleap.

Totrulyconsiderthesephenomenawithfresheyes,themechanisticapproachinheritedfromDescartes,Newton,Darwin,BertrandRussell,andtheirilk,mustberejected.

11. See Brig Klyce’s discussion of the supposed random mutation cre-ating antifreeze protein genes at panspermia.org/neodarw.htm

Whilegreatsuccesshasbeenmadeinphysicsandengi-neeringbytheconsiderationofefficientcauses,thiscan-notbeprojecteduponlifeprocesses. (Indeed,point-by-pointmechanismisnoteventrueontheabioticlevel—see“TheMatterofMind.”12)

Unliketheso-calledlawsofphysics,whichdescribeabi-oticgoings-onwithformulationsthatareindependentofthedirectionoftime,almostallempiricalgeneralizationsaboutlivingprocesseshaveacleardirectiontothem.But,thisdirectionisnotavector!Onthescaleofevolutionarytime,theseprocessesarenotdirectedasanarrow,fromonepossiblestatetoanother,butare,instead,thedevelop-mentofgreaterdomainsofpossibility.Anewpotentialmayappeartocomefromthepast,temporally,butitisnotgen-eratedfromit,causally.Timeisdrawnforward,notpushed.

Wewillcontinuethisthemeasweconsiderorganiza-tionacrosscells.

Cellular Communication and PoetryEmbryologyisafascinatingdiscipline.Nineteenth-Cen-

turyexperimentsrevealedthatthedifferentiationofcellsastheembryodevelopswasnotdeterminedbythephysi-calcompositionofthecells.Ifitwere,itwouldbeimpos-sibletoswitchcellsaroundina16-celledembryo,andhavetheorganism,asawhole,developproperly,compen-satingforthechange.SinceexperimentssuchasthishadbeensuccessfullyperformedbyGermanbiologistsHansDriesch(1867-1941)andHansSpemann(1869-1941),ithasbeennecessarytoconsiderthedevelopingembryoasawhole,andnotasagrowingcollectionofcells.RussianbiologistAlexanderGurwitsch(1874-1954)hypothesizeda biological field to guide the development, and per-formedstudiesononepossiblemeansoforganizationofthefield:whathecalledmitogenicradiation.

Ina famousexperiment,Gurwitschorientedtwoon-ions,suchthattheroottipofonepointedperpendicularlyatalocationontheaxisoftheother.Hediscoveredthattheregionpointedtobythefirsttiphadagreaterrateofmitotic division than neighboring regions. Experimentswithdifferentshieldingmaterialsledhimtoconcludethatthismitogenicradiation,ashecalledit,expresseditselfintheultravioletrange.13

Continuedworkonthissubject,withthegreatadvan-tageofsensitivephotomultipliers,hasindicatedthatseem-inglyallbiologicalprocessesemitvarioussortsofelectro-magnetic radiation. Examples, such as the coordinateddevelopmentofgroupsoffisheggs,sympatheticsymptomsof disease expressed by cells in optical communicationwithinfectedones,andvariationsinorganizedcellbehav-ior, that is inducedby the spectrapermitted topassbe-

12. http://tiny.cc/lmbb7

13. Lipkind, Op. cit.

www.cbu.edu/~seisen/Viruses.htm

Figure 2LYTIC AND LYSOGENIC PATHWAYS OF

BACTERIOPHAGEA virus behaving in a lysogenic state integrates itself into its host DNA, whereas one in the lytic state reproduces rapidly without integrating, eventually popping (lysing) the cell. Ultraviolet light can trigger some viruses to switch their role.

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tweencellgroupings,indicateagreatre-sponsivenessoflifetosuchradiation.14

Inevolutionaryterms,itstandstorea-son that thecosmic radiationenviron-mentcanplayamajorroleinregulatingcellularactivity,bothdirectly,astriggeringradiation,andpotentially, throughinducingCerenkovradiationsofap-propriatefrequenciesinorganisms.Thepreviousdiscus-sionofviruses,andtheturninggeneticexpressiononoroffby environmental factors, offer no shortage of fields ofstudytoexplorethemeansbywhichtheenvironmentofthegalaxyasawholeshapesthedevelopmentoflifehereonourcurrenthomeplanet.

Itmustbeemphasizedthatwhilefactorssuchascellularemissions,virusoperation,andgenometranscriptionmayserveasmechanismsforsuchdevelopment,theyarenotthecause.Asanexampleofadispositiontomovetowardsadifferentstate,Iofferthesimpleexampleofamixtureofhydrogenandoxygengas.Suchamixtureinavesselisnot

14. See Jonathan Tennenbaum,  ``The Biophoton Revolution,’’ 21st Century Science & Technology, Winter 1998-99.

atathermodynamicoptimum:Thecom-binationofthegasestoformwaterwouldbepreferred.Yet, such a transformationcannotoccurwithoutacatalyst,suchasasparkinthechamber.

Althoughhigherapesmayhavehumangeneswhichtheyarenotexpressing,andtheCambrianExplosionmayhavebeenthe letting loose of a great evolutionarypotential,suchtriggeredreleasesarenotthesameastheprocessthatsetupthedis-positionforsuchchanges.15HerewemustjoinwithPercyByssheShelley,wholaud-edtheroleofthepoetincraftingadynam-ic,alongwhichthoughtscouldthenrun.

No matter what the British biologistRichardDawkinsmightclaim,thereisnoproximally advantageous mechanisticcause for the development of such ge-nomic potentials. Indeed, the cause ofevolutionarydevelopmentisjustthat:acause. Not being able to find it in therealm of mechanism does not mean itdoes not exist, but rather, that we are

seekinginthewrongplace.Wefindaprocessrigorouslyanalogoustothisdevelop-

mentoftheuniverseasawhole,inthecreativeadvance-mentofhumansociety.Atthispointinhumanandplane-taryhistory,itisessentialtoorganizeculturearoundthegoalofmannedcolonizationoftheMoonandMars.With-outapersonalcommitmenttosuchashift—withoutsuchapolitical-culturalgoal—itwereimpossibletomakethe“scientific”breakthroughsrequiredtopiecethismatterto-gether.Afaultyviewofthefertilepotentialofhumanna-turewill,necessarily,analogously,laybarrierstowhatmayseemtobediscoveriesof“scientific”matters.

Totrulybeascientist,onemustalsobealegislatorofmankind.

15. The development of the genome, creating new evolutionary poten-tials, does not require competitive advantage along the way. The prob-lem of the utility of middle stages of development would not be an is-sue, to the extent that changes in expressed characteristics actually occur with surprising rapidity.

Since the late-19th-Century experiments of the German biologists Hans Driesch (below) and Hans Spemann (left) revealed that the differentiation of cells as the embryo develops was not determined by the physical composition of the cells, it has been necessary to consider the developing embryo as a whole, and not as a growing collection of cells.

Russian biologist Alexander Gurwitsch hypothesized a biological field to guide the development of cells, and performed studies on one possible means of organization of the field: what he called mitogenic radiation.

References ______________________________________________

Eva  Jablonka  and  Marion  J.  Lamb,  Evolution in Four Dimensions (Cambridge, Mass.:  MIT Press; 2005).

Brig Klyce, “Cosmic Ancestry,” http://panspermia.org

Michael Lipkind, “Alexander Gurwitsch and the Concept of  the Bio-logical Field,” Part 1, 21st Century Science & Technology (Summer 1998):  http://tiny.cc/bvr3q;  and  Part  2,  21st Century Science & Technology (Fall 1998).

Frank Ryan, Virolution (London: Harper-Collins; 2009).

Sky Shields, “Kesha Rogers’ Victory Launches the Rebirth of a Mars Colonization Policy”: http://larouchepac.com/node/13802