Sex and Philosophy - John A Hewitt

Alternate Site

The theory for the origin of life that emerges from bioepistemic evolution is further developed on the author's newer site - Evolution and Origin

In its rank0 section, that site includes all the origin of life work given here and also extends it to describe chemical, evolutionary mechanisms for the emergence of "bacterial protocells;" although lacking genetics, such protocells would otherwise have resembled bacteria, both chemically and morphologically.

The Evolution of Prebiotic Oscillations

References to articles cited in the text and links to some other relevant sites.



References

The Evolution of Prebiotic Oscillations

References
Links
Copyright

Top of PageReferences

Behe M. J. (1996)
Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution  Free Press, London
Berridge M. J., Rapp P. E. and Treherne J. E. (1979)
Cellular Oscillators Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Boerlijst M. C. & Hogeweg P. (1991)
Spiral Wave Structures in Prebiotic Evolution: Hypercycles Stable Against Parasites Physica D 48 17-28
Cairns-Smith A. G. (1971)
The life puzzle: on crystals and organisms and on the possibility of a crystal as an ancestor Oliver and Boyd, London
Casti J. L (1986)
Paradigms Lost Images of Man in the Mirror of Science William Morrow, New York
Chen I. A., Roberts R. W. & Szostak J. W.  (2004)
Science 305 1474-6 The Emergence of Competition between Model Protocells
Copley S.D, Smith E. & Morowitz H. J. (2005)
A mechanism for the association of amino acids with their codons and the origin of the genetic code Proc. of the Natl. Acad. Sci. US 102 4442-4447
Crick F. H. C. (1982)
Life Itself: Its Origins and Nature McDonald & Co, London
Darnell J. E. & Doolittle W. F. (1985)
Speculations on the Early Course of Evolution  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci US  83 1271-1275
Dawkins R. (1989)
The Selfish Gene Oxford University Press, Oxford
Edelman G. (1992)
Bright Air, Brilliant Fire On the Matter of the Mind Allen Lane, London
Fisher R. A. (1930)
Genetic Theory of Natural Selection
Gilbert W. (1986)
Nature 319 618 The RNA World
Gould S. J. (1987)
Natural History 10 137-140 Justice Scalia's Misunderstanding
Hanczyk M. M. & Szostak J. W. (2004)
Replicating vesicles as models of primitive cell growth Current Opinion in Chemical Biology 8 660-664
Hewitt J. A. (2002)
The Architecture of Thought A New Look at Human Evolution Holmhurst House Press, Bedfordshire
Hoyle F. (1983)
The Intelligent Universe: A New View of Creation and Evolution Michael Joseph Ltd. London
Johnson P. E. (1991)
Darwin on Trial Gateway Publishing Co. Regnery
Lathe R. (2004)
Icarus 168 18-22 Fast Tidal Cycling and the Origin of Life
Lazcano A. & Miller S. L. (1996)
Cell 85 793-798 The Origin and Early Evolution of Life: Prebiotic Chemistry, the Pre-RNA World, and Time
Orgel L. E. (2000)
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci US  97 12503-12507 Self-organizing biochemical cycles
Orgel L. E. (2004)
Critical Reviews in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 39 99-123 Prebiotic Chemistry and the Origin of the RNA World
Plotkin H. (1994)
The Nature of Knowledge Concerning Adaptations, Instincts and the Evolution of Intelligence Allen Lane, London
Pohorille A., Chipot C., New M. H. & Wilson M. A. (1996)
Molecular modelling of protocellular functions in "Biocomputing: Proceedings of the 1996 Pacific Symposium," edited by Lawrence Hunter and Teri Klein, 550-569, World Scientific Publishing Co, Singapore.
Segré D., Ben-Eli D., Deamer D. W. & Lancet D. (2001)
The Lipid World Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere 31 119-145
Segré D., Ben-Eli D. & Lancet D. (2000)
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci US  97 4112-4117 Compositional genomes Prebiotic information transfer in mutually catalytic noncovalent assemblies
Shapiro R (2000)
A Replicator Was Not Involved in the Origin of Life IUBMB Life 49 173-176
Shapiro R (2006)
Small Molecule Interactions Were Central to the Origin of Life The Quarterly Review of Biology 81 105-125
Shannon C. E. (1948)
A Mathematical Theory of Communication  The Bell System Technical Journal 27 379-423 & 623-656
Sober E. & Wilson D. S. (1998)
Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Wachtershauser G. (1990)
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci US  87 200-204 Evolution of the first metabolic cycles
Weber B. H. (1998)
in Evolutionary Systems: Biological and Epistemological Perspectives on Selection and Self-Organization, G. Van de Vijver, S.N. Salthe and M. Delpos (eds), Emergence of life and biological selection from the perspective of complex systems dynamics 59-66, Kluwer, Dordrecth
Winfree A. T. (1980)
The Geometry of Biological Time Springer-Verlag, New York
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Top of PageInternet Sites Presenting Unusual or Unorthodox Views on Evolution

Individuals

These are sites written about evolution by individuals. I would like to add others, my preference being for sites that give good, detailed descriptions of original approaches or are ciritical of the conventional wisdom. If you know of such sites, please tell me.

Codefun
Written by Mark White this site contains, amongst other things, ideas about the symmetry properties of the genetic code that have never been published in the scientific literature but nonetheless, seem original and deserve to be considered.
Cellular Automata
Tim Tyler's site figures high on internet searches and has nice simulations of cellular automata. His other interest seems to be Cairns-Smith's ideas about silicate based life forms which are not believable. However, he just seems to give his own take on Cairns-Smith, without really answering published criticism of that work.

Groups

There are many group sites about evolution, these are jsut a couple of popular examples that have links. I cannot think of any sites that offer purely "secular" criticisms of evolutionary theory. If you know of any, let me know I would like to link to them.

Talk Origins
This site is very large, and aims to to provide the scientific position on evolution. To a large extent it counterpoints creationism and intelligent design and most of that seems valid. However, you will find no attention to valid criticisms of evolution. Hence, the discussion tends to be worthy rather than interesting. Also, the site is misnamed and does not seem to champion any evolutionary theory of origins. There are groups, archives and many links.
ISCID - International Society for Complexity Information and Design
This is a major intelligent design site. You can find some good critiques of evolutionary theory on here and readers should think them but should not swallow the ID. No links to speak of.
 

Top of PageCopyright Statement

© John A Hewitt MA PhD (Cantab.)
The work described here was performed as an independent investigation by John A Hewitt who asserts the right to be recognized as its author and as the originator of the novel ideas presented here. The topics to which this claim applies include, but are not limited to, the application of bioepistemic evolution to the prebiotic situation, the discussion of the sun as a data and power source for prebiotic evolving systems, the recognition of sun-induced chemical oscillations as information carriers subject to evolutionary selection and to the theories for the origin of biochemical pathways and self-oscillatory, allosteric and cyclic biochemistry that result.
This study is a greatly extended version of a poster originally presented at the Royal Society meeting on conditions for the emergence of life on the early earth, London, 13 & 14 February, 2006. This internet version was made available on 6 September, 2006. Comments and criticism are solicited - see the "contact & copyright" link for contact details.