The Third Evolution: main characteristics (3/3)

Here we show how the Third Evolution shares many characteristics with the Second Evolution: the blindness, the randomness, the digital base, the unicity, the diversity, the role of the environment, the inheritance. Today we finish the grand tour with diversity, environment and inheritance.

Diversity and the role of the environment

Evolution occurs as a gradual adaptation between the diversity present in the system and the environment.
The rate of star formation in a galaxy (First Evolution) is likely to be related to its immediate environment (made up of other galaxies). Spiral galaxies are everywhere in the Universe, but they are all different. We continue to marvel at the different shapes of galaxies. No two galaxies are the same. We know that the interaction with the other galaxies shapes the galaxies. The environment of that galaxy is specific to that galaxy.

The M51 galaxy has been collided with another galaxy, NGC5195 (blue blob at top). This far-infrared image from the Herschel telescope shows (in blue) sites of star formation triggered by the collision. Each galaxy has its own specific history of environmental influences.

 

Bacteria can be of exactly the same species, but they all have slightly different shapes and contents. Ultimately, the origin of species is the response of the (Second) Evolution to different environments. Bats are adapted to see at night. Fish are adapted to the sea, and so on.

Brains may look the same, but we now know that the exact wiring has been produced as an interaction between the genetic code and the environment that people get throughout their lives. So there are no two identical brains, even in twins with the same genetic code. The diversity of human cultures is staggering. But we can see how the environment has been the main driving force of diversity. Olives are a central culinary item in Greece, not in Greenland!

Inheritance

Evolution is about gradual change. Spontaneous and instantaneous transitions do not occur. Every species comes from an ancestor, and this is true of the three evolutions. The tree of life seems to be a generic concept: galaxies are born from the agglomeration of smaller units. The genetic material of children comes from their parents. Ideas, concepts, memes, institutions can usually be traced back historically to previous ideas.