Conservation, Creation, and Evolution: Revising the Darwinian Project

Abstract

There is hardly anything more central to our universe than conservation. Many scientific fields and disciplines view the law of conservation as one of the most fundamental universal laws. The Darwinian model pivots the process of evolution on variability, reproduction, and natural selection. Conservation plays a marginal role in this model and is not really universal, as the model allows exceptions to conservation, i.e. non-conservation, to play an equally important role in evolution. This anomalous role of conservation in the Darwinian model raises questions: What is the reason for this anomaly? Is conservation really universal, as we tend to believe or is it not, as the Darwinian model suggests? This contribution proposes a new model of evolution that focuses on levels of organization, rather than of species, organisms, or populations. It argues that conservation is central to evolution. Not only does this new model restores the universal status of conservation but it also makes possible to resolve some outstanding problems and controversies that continue to plague the Darwinian model. The article tries to advance the broad Darwinian project that seeks to explain the process of evolution as a product of the spontaneous processes in nature.

The 'Futility Thesis' and the Uncomfortable Truth of Elite Rule

“…This evolution represents a cascade of increasingly more powerful levels of organization nested in each other matryoshka style. As I have argued elsewhere, 44 the process of creation that generates these levels of organization is essential for conservation that is ubiquitous and has its roots in the very nature of our universe. 45 Our universe is very unique.…”

IS OUR RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY IN DECLINE? A New Approach in Resolving the Controversy

“…Since the emerging level of organization cannot be reduced to the level from each it has emerged (due to its superior power), we identify the act of its emergence as creation-an action or process of bringing something into existence. 44 The Main Function of the Process of Creation…”

Making Progress Work: A New Life for the Old Idea

“…Life and its many forms-from simple organisms and plants to higher animals and to humans-are perhaps the most astounding examples of creation. 79 Given the objective existence of the process of creation, a perspective that uses the process of creation as its main organizing principle offers a view of reality that is objective, non-arbitrary, and unbiased. Moreover, as has been argued elsewhere, the process of creation offers a point from which we can observe reality, including the process of creation itself, without reliance on humanly created constructs and without falling into the trap of what Luhmann called "infinite regress."…”