Proving Darwin: Making Biology Mathematical 1st Edition by Gregory Chaitin (PDF)

Description

Groundbreaking mathematician Gregory Chaitin gives us the first book to posit that we can prove how Darwin’s theory of evolution works on a mathematical level. For years it has been received wisdom among most scientists that, just as Darwin claimed, all of the Earth’s life-forms evolved by blind chance. But does Darwin’s theory function on a purely mathematical level? Has there been enough time for evolution to produce the remarkable biological diversity we see around us? It’s a question no one has yet answered—in fact, no one has even attempted to answer it until now. In this illuminating and provocative book, Gregory Chaitin argues that we can’t be sure evolution makes sense without a mathematical theory. He elucidates the mathematical scheme he’s developed that can explain life itself, and examines the works of mathematical pioneers John von Neumann and Alan Turing through the lens of biology. Chaitin presents an accessible introduction to metabiology, a new way of thinking about biological science that highlights the mathematical structures underpinning the biological world. Fascinating and thought-provoking, Proving Darwin makes clear how biology may have found its greatest ally in mathematics.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I wrote my freshman English paper on Darwin and his views on God.Evolution and creation ( intelligent design in modern idiom) have battled forthe hearts and minds of modern men, and evolution as a sciencehas been winning.Chaitin says that DNA is the computing language of nature and is the universal programming language.Since he loves Turing machines and Lisp in the area of programming languages,we kind of see his loyalty has drifted? Not important in his argumentthat all life is a computing machine with DNA programs running.In computer science a method of finding solution to difficult problemsis called genetic programing based on a set of parameters( genes)and a fitness rule. The element of randomness of mutation (for which Chaitin is famousas being on the pioneers in theory of randomness) seems to be what makesthis sort of algorithm find solutions that escape traditional problem solving methods.What Chaitin has done here is sort of a Gödel like argument based on Darwin’s theory as beinga genetic programming problem of a DNA based computer bringing hisOmega type arguments about stopping as: stopping =fitnessThe problem with his book/ lectures is that he came with”intelligent design” as one of his three “options”. The religious communityhave really mistaken his meaning and motive, it appears.Chaitin’s argument is more a diestic clockwork evolution that isnot ruled by an active God. He probably would have beenbetter off taking a less agnostic and more atheistic point of view.I don’t think Chaitin has ever read Per Bak’s”How Nature Works: the science of self-organized criticality”

⭐which put the evolution of the whole universe on a mathematical basisand the evolution of life as a result becomes a mathematicsof self-organization.(The idea of the universe as a Wang tiled Turing machine isn’t a new one.)The problem with evolution as a universal solution language isthat problem solving with DNA based genes has conditions built in:1) very large populations are needed ( like bacteria for instance)2) a long mutation period so that all the viable mutations exist in the population3) a genetic variant produced by the mutation has to existthat will solve the environmental stress fitness.The case of Neanderthals may be a lesion here as 1) and 2) were met,but 3) failed leaving anatomically modern humans to be the winnersin the ice age fitness race.Chaitin also seems ignorant of the modern work that pretty muchstates perfect Randomness (Endre Szemerédi)is actually a form of order on which a lot of prime sequence work (Terence Tao)takes as a starting point.Here is the bridge to Gödel’s incompleteness theorems argumentusing primes which are the language of numbers and were believedto be random in their structure and appearance in Gödel’s time.Gödel make the Primes the basis of his meta-mathematical programminglanguage ( the DNA of mathematical statements).He establish inherent limitations to axiomatic programs,just as there limitation to what systems based on DNAcan do.That the Santa Fe Institute is involved in this book isn’t surprising.Several of the inmates their has contributed to the ideas of fitness landscapesin evolution processes. In a world where X-men with superpowerspopulate the popular landscape is is probably important tostate that mutations are limited in what they can accomplishin terms of humans and their future. Global warming mayjust be the environmental stress for which there is no mutation basedfitness solution. That said humanity may in the futuretake steps to increase the genetic fitness of the speciesartificially as he has grains and other plants.I think the major virtue of Chaitin book is that he makes us thinkand not that it is a proof of Darwin’s theory.Does the universe have universal programming language by whichall space, time and matter is programmed? The analogy of DNAto the structures of matter made up of three quarks isn’t hard to find.How can we find this universal programming language if it exists?

⭐This book promised so much, and yet delivered so little. To be sure, the author has some very interesting ideas that are worth being exposed to but that does not save this book. The first problem is in delivery – almost the entire book seems to be taken verbatim from class lectures. Certain content is duplicated often enough, that the book could have been cut in half with no loss. The second issue lies in the content itself. The author claims to have developed a working toy model of Darwinian evolution. But there’s one fundamental problem here – his model relies on algorithmic mutation to introduce diversity, whereas real organisms generally undergo bitwise mutation. Hence, his model allows for a much more sophisticated search of the genotype space than is allowed in nature. In the same vein, by his own admission, the model can not actually be simulated, because it relies on a fitness function that can not be guaranteed to produce a result.Not as important, but still misleading, is that his result claims to model Darwinian evolution. This is not true, as Darwinism posits that all existing life forms came into being from nothing (or from a primordial soup, if you wish) solely through natural selection acting on genetic crossover & mutation. What his model actually demonstrates (or would, if it could be simulated) is non-Darwinian adaptation & evolution. His evolution is only capable of tiny incremental changes that can not possibly create entirely new structures – they can only rearrange existing structures.In summary, the fundamental ideas relating biology-mathematics-creativity are very interesting, as is the goal of developing a mathematical model for evolution. However, all this is worth a 30-60 minute lecture; not this book.

⭐This is a book in which Gregory Chaitin explores the fascinating topic of artificial life. Most scientists venturing outside their normal realm take pains to show that they have studied the new area – with name-dropping and citations. Chaitin doesn’t bother with that. Indeed, he shows no sign of being aware of other workers in the field. He refers to the field as “metabiology” – and acts as though this is a new subject area which he has invented. While reading the book I kept wondering if he was going to cite the work of Chris Langton, John Holland, John Koza, Tom Ray, Moshe Sipper – or any of the other artificial life pioneers. John von Neumann did get referenced – but that was about it.Does Chaitin say much of interest – despite apparently not having read any of the literature in the field? Unfortunately, not knowing the literature seems to lead to a distorted idea about what the open problems in the field are. Instead, Chaitin says he was inspired by David Berlinski’s critique of Darwinism. Hang on, though. David Berlinski is a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute. He clearly doesn’t have a clue what he is talking about. A scientist should not choose their research program based on what David Berlinski says. Chaitin just decreases his own credibility by taking Berlinski seriously.Overall, this book won’t be worth reading for most readers. If you want to learn about artificial life, I recommend looking to sources which have more thoroughly researched the topic.

⭐I think Chaitin says a lot of interesting things in this book but, to be honest, this feels more like a rambling journal than it does a well thought through publication. I can imagine reading this as a series of blog posts.However, he gets his points across (several times so yep there’s some repetition) and I think there could be something important that he has to say about mathematical biology and evolution. I’ve yet to finish it even though it is a very short book.

⭐Amazing product!!!I am very happy with the purchase, the product quality is unsurpassed.Greetings.

⭐Stimulating, as usual

⭐I looked forward to reading this book but I now realize I would have been better off reading the paper on which it was based (that appears interesting). Frankly, the book consisted of pages and pages of name dropping. This is a pretty damning review but I felt that the author and editor wasted my time.

⭐Aquest llibre fa possible l’enteniment de l’evolució per a altres ciències que no son les biologiques.Pot ajudar força a la comprensió de la biologia per aquells que entenen per exemple la programació (inclus si sen té un nivell molt baix).

⭐

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