From Alastair Lyndon, School of Life Sciences, Heriot-Watt University
The proposition of more or less absolute determinism in the evolutionary process suggested by Simon Conway Morris is little short of preposterous (16 November, p 26).
It is, nevertheless, sadly typical of the polarised views on evolution propounded by high-profile scientists who should know better.
Yes, convergence is widespread in nature, but to equate this with the inevitable appearance of “a humanoid creature” is simplistic and fatally anthropocentric. Besides, how “humanoid” are the giant wasps whose ascendancy Morris imagines? The main point of the piece seems to be to discredit the line taken by Stephen Jay Gould that evolution is entirely “contingent”.
Rerunning the tape of evolution would only give the same outcome if all other things – that is, the contingencies imposed by the environment – were equal. So it is contingent, as Gould held – but only if the environment is different. Alternatively, rerunning the tape will be largely deterministic, as Morris argues, only if all environmental events are identical. As ever, the truth most probably lies somewhere in the middle of this continuum. Intelligence would likely arise in a rerun, given its survival value, but whether it would bear more than a passing resemblance to our own is questionable.
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