Life's Solution : Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe PDF
by Simon (University of Cambridge) Conway Morris
Description
The assassin's bullet misses, the Archduke's carriage moves forward, and a catastrophic war is avoided.
So too with the history of life. Re-run the tape of life, as Stephen J. Gould claimed, and the outcome must be entirely different: an alien world, without humans and maybe not even intelligence.
The history of life is littered with accidents: any twist or turn may lead to a completely different world.
Now this view is being challenged. Simon Conway Morris explores the evidence demonstrating life's almost eerie ability to navigate to a single solution, repeatedly.
Eyes, brains, tools, even culture: all are very much on the cards.
So if these are all evolutionary inevitabilities, where are our counterparts across the galaxy?
The tape of life can only run on a suitable planet, and it seems that such Earth-like planets may be much rarer than hoped.
Inevitable humans, yes, but in a lonely Universe.
Information
-
Download - Immediately Available
- Format:PDF
- Pages:Worked examples or Exercises; 23 Halftones, unspecified; 27 Line drawings, unspecified
- Publisher:Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date:25/08/2005
- Category:
- ISBN:9780511075629
Information
-
Download - Immediately Available
- Format:PDF
- Pages:Worked examples or Exercises; 23 Halftones, unspecified; 27 Line drawings, unspecified
- Publisher:Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date:25/08/2005
- Category:
- ISBN:9780511075629