Chapter category: Evolution
Genomism and the Nature Trail
The Genomic Potential Hypothesis: A Chemist's View of the Origins, Evolution and Unfolding of Life
Edited by: Christian SchwabeISBN: 1-58706-044-2
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Chapter authors:
Christian Schwabe
As genes move into the center of a hypothesis one needs an "ism" to refer to the background of ideas that make up the new model. Thus, as the term Darwinism describes the single origin, the descent with variation, adaptation and constructive mutations and so on, genomism describes a system centered upon large amounts of abiotically synthesized genomic raw material which limits not only the developmental potential of each species but also the level of genomic complexity on a planet. How to get evidence for the new model is the question.
Genomism had a fairly unassuming start close to 30 years ago during a small group session on the topic of Darwinian evolution with refreshingly bright students. There was a moment at the blackboard when it seemed that all the incongruities of the old evolutionary story that had been plaguing me off and on came into focus and that made me hesitate for a moment until an explanation that had been sort of on the backburner suddenly became clear. It was a tense moment but my students thought of it as a setup, a teaching technique. I remember writing ACTG, which stands for the nucleotide bases in several permutations, and starting a discussion as to how frequently any sequence we might want to write could appear if we had a mole or 1000 moles (~6 x 1026 bases) available to select from. The discussion drifted for a wonderful hour from gene duplication to redundancy which would make that duplication unnecessary, eliminate mutations and make altogether for a happier way to produce variety. Redundancy and reiteration had conned scientists into drawing evolutionary trees from protein structures and that, in turn, provided the impetus for matching these trees to those that the Darwinians had designed for species identification. If, instead of adapting molecules to the purported speciation scheme one were to adapt the sequential appearance of animals to the chemical production of redundancy, one would eliminate the need for unique events and for the intermediate forms that the fossil record will not yield, in spite of long and intense searches.
Additional chapters from this book:
The Genomic Potential Hypothesis: Introduction
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The Genomic Potential Hypothesis is a biochemists' view of the origin, evolution, and development of life. Large numbers are second nature to a biochemist an...
Quintessence
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Steven Weinberg once said that the complexity of physics today reaches very close to the edge of the human intellect.1 Where would that leave us, the bioch...
Experiments in Evolution
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Conceptual science interfaces with the experimental world as predictions emanate from the internal logic of a paradigm. Hypotheses concerning the origin and unfolding...
Molecular Geneology
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Is it rational to expect proteins such as insulin, relaxin, hemoglobin, or cytochrome to have followed the evolutionary route of the organisms from which they were taken? Of course it is , but...
On the Evolution of Humans
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Ancient bones are somewhat like wind vanes that show from which direction a particular hypothesis breezes across the fossil field. If a paradigm is useful one should ...
The Invariance Concept
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Tucked away, if it were possible, within the hollow of the tip of a dart gun needle aimed at man or beast one could make a memorable discovery. Just a moment after sk...
Natura non facit saltum (Nature does nothing in jumps)
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Latin is intimidating, and people tend to defer to anything expressed in that venerable language. Of all the errors chiseled into our cultural foundation in Latin, th...
Thoughts on Multi-Cellularity: How Nature got Around Darwin
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Reproductive success is the ultimate criterion for survival in the Darwinian paradigm, and since micro-organisms are undisputed champions of reproduction the countles...
Development of Biological Potential
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Should development come after speciation? Yes, of course, in the new model it is natural, one produces the Anlage and develops it to its potential. The word evolution...
The Origins of Species
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There was never a time on earth when only one kind, one species, existed. At least there is no evidence to that effect and a plausible extension of that simple though...
The Condensation of Life
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The course of biogenesis was carved into molecular structures by the events of the primeval initiation of our universe. The speed at which pure energy segregated into...
Our Young Planet: One is not a Choice
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The old model begins with one origin and the biochemist knows that to be impossible. The scientific basis for the genomist’s position has been discussed and will...
The Origin of Complexity
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Clearly, molecular complexity was a precondition for biogenesis. Contiguous molecular structures are monkey bars for electrons that provide the stream of energy requi...
Genomism and the Nature Trail
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As genes move into the center of a hypothesis one needs an "ism" to refer to the background of ideas that make up the new model. Thus, as the term Darwinism...
The Frame for New Hypotheses of Evolution
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How does one present any new idea, which is in principle impossible to proof? Hypotheses are self-limiting and an old paradigm of evolution will fall victim to its er...
Life in a Tenuous Universe
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The question is, do we live independent of the shape of our universe, or are we an intimate partner as well as a beneficiary of its peculiar structure and its awesome...
