Module III·Article II·~1 min read
Evolutionary Biology: Synthesis and Debate
Consciousness, Life, and the Brain
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Extended Evolutionary Synthesis
Standard evolutionary synthesis (1940s): random mutations + natural selection + Mendelian genetics. Extended synthesis (late 20th — early 21st century) adds: epigenetics (inheritance not encoded in DNA), niche construction (organisms change their environment, altering selection pressure), evolvability (the very capacity to evolve itself evolves).
Evo-devo (evolutionary developmental biology): regulator genes (Hox genes) control body plan. The same gene in a fly and a human — radically different result depending on the regulation.
Cultural Evolution
Richard Dawkins (1976): memes — units of cultural transmission, analogous to genes. Ideas, songs, practices are replicated, mutate, compete. This is a controversial analogy, but it opened the field of cultural evolution.
Question for reflection: What “memes” (ideas, practices) live in your organization? Which are adaptive, which are outdated “viruses”?
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