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Darwin's Blind Spot: Evolution Beyond Natural Selection
While Charles Darwin's vision of evolution was brilliant, natural selection ignores a crucial force that helps to explain the diversity and wonder of life: symbiosis. In Darwin's Blind Spot, Frank Ryan shows how the blending of life forms through symbiosis has resulted in gigantic leaps in evolution. The dependence of many flowering plants on insects and birds for pollination is an important instance of symbiosis. More surprising may be the fact that our cells have incorporated bacteria that allow us to breathe oxygen. And the equivalent of symbiosis within a species -- cooperation -- has been a vital, although largely ignored, force in human evolution. In Ryan's view, cooperation, not competition, lies at the heart of human society.
Ryan mixes stories of the many strange and beautiful results of symbiosis with accounts of the dramatic historic rivalries over the expansion of Darwin's theory. He also examines controversial research being done today, including studies suggesting that symbiosis among viruses led to the evolution of mammals and thus of humans. Too often Darwin's interpreters have put excessive emphasis on competition and struggle as the only forces in evolution. But the idea of "survival of the fittest" does not always reign. Symbiosis is critically important to the richness of Earth's life forms.
Ryan mixes stories of the many strange and beautiful results of symbiosis with accounts of the dramatic historic rivalries over the expansion of Darwin's theory. He also examines controversial research being done today, including studies suggesting that symbiosis among viruses led to the evolution of mammals and thus of humans. Too often Darwin's interpreters have put excessive emphasis on competition and struggle as the only forces in evolution. But the idea of "survival of the fittest" does not always reign. Symbiosis is critically important to the richness of Earth's life forms.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published December 16, 2002
About the author
Frank Ryan
14 books76 followersFrank Ryan is a consultant physician in the UK as well as being an innovative evolutionary biologist, who has introduced the concepts of aggressive symbiosis to virology, and the concepts of genomic creativity and the holobiontic human genome to the story of human evolution. His major scientific interest has been the pioneering and development of the concept of viruses as symbionts, thus bringing together the disciplines of evolutionary virology and symbiology. He has a major interest in the evolution of the human genome and the implications this has for medicine.
BOOKS
Frank's books include the recently published "The Mysterious World of the Human Genome", Virolution, Metamorphosis, Darwin's Blind Spot, Virus X, and The Forgotten Plague. World in Action and Horizon based programs on Frank's books. The Forgotten Plague was a non-fiction book of the year for the New York Times. Virus X also received outstanding reviews in the New York Times and The Washington Post's Bookworld, and Darwin's Blind Spot was the book of choice for Charlie Munger in 2003.
Frank's books have also been the subject of TV and radio documentaries and have been translated into many languages. He is also an occasional reviewer of books for the New York Times.
SOCIAL LIFE
Frank is married with two children. He is an entertaining speaker, which has helped to make him popular with the live media, professional colleagues and lay audiences alike.
BOOKS
Frank's books include the recently published "The Mysterious World of the Human Genome", Virolution, Metamorphosis, Darwin's Blind Spot, Virus X, and The Forgotten Plague. World in Action and Horizon based programs on Frank's books. The Forgotten Plague was a non-fiction book of the year for the New York Times. Virus X also received outstanding reviews in the New York Times and The Washington Post's Bookworld, and Darwin's Blind Spot was the book of choice for Charlie Munger in 2003.
Frank's books have also been the subject of TV and radio documentaries and have been translated into many languages. He is also an occasional reviewer of books for the New York Times.
SOCIAL LIFE
Frank is married with two children. He is an entertaining speaker, which has helped to make him popular with the live media, professional colleagues and lay audiences alike.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 28, 2019
Exploring the importance of symbiosis in evolution
What Frank Ryan demonstrates in this book is that evolution by symbiosis has been a "blind spot" for evolutionists since the time of Darwin, and even today is greatly underestimated by the Darwinian establishment as a force in evolutionary change, especially in speciation.
Ryan, who is an expert on viruses having penned such well-received books as Virus X: Tracking the New Killer Plagues and The Forgotten Plague, begins with some interesting history from Darwin's time showing that Darwin did not (and could not, to be fair) appreciate the role symbiosis plays in evolution. Indeed Ryan demonstrates that the process of symbiosis, and its sister processes, parasitism, mutualism and disease, itself has been misunderstood. A relationship between species may begin as parasitism (or disease) and eventually evolve into a symbiosis. This experience between species has been going on since before there were multi-cellular organisms, and is a feature of every species in existence. All species interact with some other species in symbiosis.
This central realization of the book leads to something like a new way of looking at evolution. Natural selection is still a factor, but not necessarily the major factor anymore. This is implied in the discovery not too many years ago that the mitochondria that inhabit the cells in our body are almost certainly the remnants of a once free-living bacterium that, long ago in the primeval soup or near an undersea volcanic caldron, entered a cell and stayed. We are then the product of symbiosis, which may have begun as one cell invading the other, and over the eons turned into a domestic living arrangement with the invading cell providing power to the larger cell as that cell protects and feeds the symbiont that is now earning its keep.
How eye opening this conception is! Imagine the planet filled with life forms that are composed of a dozen, or perhaps hundreds of similar arrangements made over the eons. This is evolution not by gradual steps but evolution by saltation, with a new species arising almost (geologically speaking) immediately. Such a conception would explain many of the gaps in the fossil record.
Ryan builds a strong case. Along the way he looks favorably upon James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis (one of my favorite modern ideas) and explores the role that viruses have had in gene transfers and speciation. He contrasts the neo-Darwinian reductionists (Dawkins, et al) with a different bred of evolutionary biologist including Lynn Margulis, Erik Larsson, Luis P. Villarreal, Kwang Jeon, John Maynard Smith, Eors Szathmary, and others. He also recalls some scientists who pioneered the ideas of symbiosis but never got the credit they deserved and were virtually ignored by the Darwinian establishment. It is surprising to see how "blind" the evolutionists were and how hard it was (and is) for new ideas to gain a foothold in any scientific community. But that is the way it should be: a new idea is just a notion until it finds collaborative support by being tested scientifically.
The Gaia metaphor is perhaps the ultimate expression of symbiosis in that it involves the entire biosphere. Ryan recalls Lovelock's view that our planet with its atmosphere and self-regulating processes represents "an emergent property" of life "tightly coupled with the physics and chemistry of the Earth's environment." (p. 112) This view has yet to gain full acceptance in the scientific community, but as knowledge of the symbiotic and cooperative nature of life (instead of an emphasis on the competitive nature) becomes more widely known (and as the old scientists retire!) I think that will change. Ryan makes it abundantly clear that (to recall an expression I either dreamed up or cribbed from somewhere) "Everything works toward a symbiosis."
One of the bugaboos in natural selection has been the idea of group selection. This has been debated for many decades, but it is becoming increasingly obvious (and Ryan strongly supports this view) that group selection is a reality. Ryan reports on the work of David Sloan Wilson and Elliott Sober, who used mathematic models to demonstrate how group selection might work. (p. 255) I have argued elsewhere for group selection so I won't go any further than to note that the biosphere that survives versus the one that doesn't (either through pollution, madness, lack of foresight, inability to ward off incoming disasters, etc.) is selected.
The most controversial idea in this book may be Ryan's insistence that natural selection should be seen as "an editorial force" acting upon what he calls "the creativity of the Genome." (p. 265). He has German biologist Werner Schwemmler suggest a balance by noting that the "combination of the two explanations (Darwinian gradualism and symbiotic saltation)" together progress "toward a unified theory of evolution." If this is correct, the way we view biological evolution is going to change dramatically in the years to come.
Ryan makes a distinction between endosymbiosis and exosymbiosis, the former involving one genome living within another, the latter pertaining to relationships such as that between pollinating insects and plants. I want to add that the exosymbiosis between humans and our crops and domestic animals has been the essential factor in our becoming a new sort of creature, one that evolves culturally rather than biologically, and will within a twinkling of time evolve into something that we cannot yet envision because of this rapid cultural evolution. Perhaps, as some have suggested, we will form a symbiosis with our intelligent machines and let Darwinian evolution edit the result.
Bottom line: an exciting book, challenging and filled with information and ideas.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Understanding Evolution and Ourselves”
What Frank Ryan demonstrates in this book is that evolution by symbiosis has been a "blind spot" for evolutionists since the time of Darwin, and even today is greatly underestimated by the Darwinian establishment as a force in evolutionary change, especially in speciation.
Ryan, who is an expert on viruses having penned such well-received books as Virus X: Tracking the New Killer Plagues and The Forgotten Plague, begins with some interesting history from Darwin's time showing that Darwin did not (and could not, to be fair) appreciate the role symbiosis plays in evolution. Indeed Ryan demonstrates that the process of symbiosis, and its sister processes, parasitism, mutualism and disease, itself has been misunderstood. A relationship between species may begin as parasitism (or disease) and eventually evolve into a symbiosis. This experience between species has been going on since before there were multi-cellular organisms, and is a feature of every species in existence. All species interact with some other species in symbiosis.
This central realization of the book leads to something like a new way of looking at evolution. Natural selection is still a factor, but not necessarily the major factor anymore. This is implied in the discovery not too many years ago that the mitochondria that inhabit the cells in our body are almost certainly the remnants of a once free-living bacterium that, long ago in the primeval soup or near an undersea volcanic caldron, entered a cell and stayed. We are then the product of symbiosis, which may have begun as one cell invading the other, and over the eons turned into a domestic living arrangement with the invading cell providing power to the larger cell as that cell protects and feeds the symbiont that is now earning its keep.
How eye opening this conception is! Imagine the planet filled with life forms that are composed of a dozen, or perhaps hundreds of similar arrangements made over the eons. This is evolution not by gradual steps but evolution by saltation, with a new species arising almost (geologically speaking) immediately. Such a conception would explain many of the gaps in the fossil record.
Ryan builds a strong case. Along the way he looks favorably upon James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis (one of my favorite modern ideas) and explores the role that viruses have had in gene transfers and speciation. He contrasts the neo-Darwinian reductionists (Dawkins, et al) with a different bred of evolutionary biologist including Lynn Margulis, Erik Larsson, Luis P. Villarreal, Kwang Jeon, John Maynard Smith, Eors Szathmary, and others. He also recalls some scientists who pioneered the ideas of symbiosis but never got the credit they deserved and were virtually ignored by the Darwinian establishment. It is surprising to see how "blind" the evolutionists were and how hard it was (and is) for new ideas to gain a foothold in any scientific community. But that is the way it should be: a new idea is just a notion until it finds collaborative support by being tested scientifically.
The Gaia metaphor is perhaps the ultimate expression of symbiosis in that it involves the entire biosphere. Ryan recalls Lovelock's view that our planet with its atmosphere and self-regulating processes represents "an emergent property" of life "tightly coupled with the physics and chemistry of the Earth's environment." (p. 112) This view has yet to gain full acceptance in the scientific community, but as knowledge of the symbiotic and cooperative nature of life (instead of an emphasis on the competitive nature) becomes more widely known (and as the old scientists retire!) I think that will change. Ryan makes it abundantly clear that (to recall an expression I either dreamed up or cribbed from somewhere) "Everything works toward a symbiosis."
One of the bugaboos in natural selection has been the idea of group selection. This has been debated for many decades, but it is becoming increasingly obvious (and Ryan strongly supports this view) that group selection is a reality. Ryan reports on the work of David Sloan Wilson and Elliott Sober, who used mathematic models to demonstrate how group selection might work. (p. 255) I have argued elsewhere for group selection so I won't go any further than to note that the biosphere that survives versus the one that doesn't (either through pollution, madness, lack of foresight, inability to ward off incoming disasters, etc.) is selected.
The most controversial idea in this book may be Ryan's insistence that natural selection should be seen as "an editorial force" acting upon what he calls "the creativity of the Genome." (p. 265). He has German biologist Werner Schwemmler suggest a balance by noting that the "combination of the two explanations (Darwinian gradualism and symbiotic saltation)" together progress "toward a unified theory of evolution." If this is correct, the way we view biological evolution is going to change dramatically in the years to come.
Ryan makes a distinction between endosymbiosis and exosymbiosis, the former involving one genome living within another, the latter pertaining to relationships such as that between pollinating insects and plants. I want to add that the exosymbiosis between humans and our crops and domestic animals has been the essential factor in our becoming a new sort of creature, one that evolves culturally rather than biologically, and will within a twinkling of time evolve into something that we cannot yet envision because of this rapid cultural evolution. Perhaps, as some have suggested, we will form a symbiosis with our intelligent machines and let Darwinian evolution edit the result.
Bottom line: an exciting book, challenging and filled with information and ideas.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “Understanding Evolution and Ourselves”
March 2, 2016
Notes
Simple mistakes in mutation are not the only means in the development of life
The majority of Darwinians perceive evolution as arising exclusively from the gradual accumulation of mutations and from sexual recombination under the controlling influence natural selection.
When two or more lifeforms interact, they bring together genomic and metabolic abilities that have already been honed by evolution. For Darwinians the mechanism of change is essentially random and hence noncreative, While for a symbiologist, the mechanism of change is not random but a creative force in itself.
Mutualistic symbiosis often evolve from parasitism
Understand Cytoplasmic inheritance
Lovelock- I see the earth is more than just a mixture of living things and inanimate matter. I see it as a tightly coupled entity, where the evolution of the living things and the evolution of the inorganic matter constitute a single and totally inseparable process. It's a whole system
Symbiogenesis is evolutionary change arising from the interaction of different species. It takes two major forms: Endosymbiosis- interaction is at the level of the genomes. Exosymbiosis- interaction may be behavioral or involve the sharing of metabolites
Bacteria represent life's true pioneers. They conquered the inhospitable wilderness of the primeval earth with no other mechanisms than The genomic capacity for change coupled with natures selectivity.
The exchanging of genes has led to a common information bank... The individual strains of bacteria that make up this gestalt can be thought of as the cells of a global super organism that has evolved over billions of years of Endo symbiotic fluidity
Sulfur cycle – at temperatures above 50°F, the top layer of the ocean stratifies. Water from below cannot get to the surface and the heat kills off the surface algae. That is why tropical oceans are bright blue and clear all the Arctic Ocean is this turbid as soup. In Gaian thinking, The algae have evolved in such a way that they help themselves by creating clouds that cool the surface layers of the ocean (algae releases dimethyl sulfide as a byproduct which is necessary for cloud formation over the oceans)
The earth system behaves as a single, self-regulating system comprised of physical, chemical, biological, and human components. The interactions and feedbacks between the component parts are complex and exhibit multi scale temporal and spatial variability.
Punctuated Equilibrium- evolution is concentrated in very rapid events of speciation, mutation within a relatively small gene pool when there is a major selection advantage.
A single paradigm does not rule evolution or any other branch of science. Not only do multiple paradigms supply they interact from event to event and from moment to moment
Although the evolutionary relationships still poorly understood, our inner zoos(bacteria) appear to be as important to our physiology and health as the warm and nourishing tunnel of are colon is to them
How could a cooperative ideal (in humans) be evolving in a species said to be dominated by selfish motivation?
Cooperation is far too important to be ignored by evolutionary sociology, psychology, and biology
Rules for Mutualistic symbiosis- once the genes for cooperation exist, selection will promote strategies that base cooperative behavior on cues in the environment
Every individual animal or plant is a vast inner cooperation among interacting layers, a community of a hundred million million mutually dependent eukaryotic cells
I see God's hand in influencing man in all nations through philosophers, leaders, revealing holy writ all that He sees fit that they should have, revealing principles of morality and ethics to improve society through mutualism in contrast to intense competition
The core of a mutualism is the payment of what is "fitness-cheap" to you for what is "fitness-dear" to you.
If Selfish behavior of an individual gene causes a loss of reproductive fitness, group selection at the chromosome or whole genome level will tend to suppress that behavior
Cooperation became an evolutionary force when selection between groups are more important than selection between individual members within a group, ex. The evolution of the social insects, such as honeybees, into super organisms in which the entire colony behaves as an integrated whole
Millennia of experience show that by entering into a symbiotic relationship with nature, humankind can invent and generate futures not predictable from the deterministic order of things, and thus can engage in a continuous process of creation
The creativity of the genome, a distinct and separate force for change, must work hand-in-hand, and greater or lesser degree, with the editorial force of natural selection.
Simple mistakes in mutation are not the only means in the development of life
The majority of Darwinians perceive evolution as arising exclusively from the gradual accumulation of mutations and from sexual recombination under the controlling influence natural selection.
When two or more lifeforms interact, they bring together genomic and metabolic abilities that have already been honed by evolution. For Darwinians the mechanism of change is essentially random and hence noncreative, While for a symbiologist, the mechanism of change is not random but a creative force in itself.
Mutualistic symbiosis often evolve from parasitism
Understand Cytoplasmic inheritance
Lovelock- I see the earth is more than just a mixture of living things and inanimate matter. I see it as a tightly coupled entity, where the evolution of the living things and the evolution of the inorganic matter constitute a single and totally inseparable process. It's a whole system
Symbiogenesis is evolutionary change arising from the interaction of different species. It takes two major forms: Endosymbiosis- interaction is at the level of the genomes. Exosymbiosis- interaction may be behavioral or involve the sharing of metabolites
Bacteria represent life's true pioneers. They conquered the inhospitable wilderness of the primeval earth with no other mechanisms than The genomic capacity for change coupled with natures selectivity.
The exchanging of genes has led to a common information bank... The individual strains of bacteria that make up this gestalt can be thought of as the cells of a global super organism that has evolved over billions of years of Endo symbiotic fluidity
Sulfur cycle – at temperatures above 50°F, the top layer of the ocean stratifies. Water from below cannot get to the surface and the heat kills off the surface algae. That is why tropical oceans are bright blue and clear all the Arctic Ocean is this turbid as soup. In Gaian thinking, The algae have evolved in such a way that they help themselves by creating clouds that cool the surface layers of the ocean (algae releases dimethyl sulfide as a byproduct which is necessary for cloud formation over the oceans)
The earth system behaves as a single, self-regulating system comprised of physical, chemical, biological, and human components. The interactions and feedbacks between the component parts are complex and exhibit multi scale temporal and spatial variability.
Punctuated Equilibrium- evolution is concentrated in very rapid events of speciation, mutation within a relatively small gene pool when there is a major selection advantage.
A single paradigm does not rule evolution or any other branch of science. Not only do multiple paradigms supply they interact from event to event and from moment to moment
Although the evolutionary relationships still poorly understood, our inner zoos(bacteria) appear to be as important to our physiology and health as the warm and nourishing tunnel of are colon is to them
How could a cooperative ideal (in humans) be evolving in a species said to be dominated by selfish motivation?
Cooperation is far too important to be ignored by evolutionary sociology, psychology, and biology
Rules for Mutualistic symbiosis- once the genes for cooperation exist, selection will promote strategies that base cooperative behavior on cues in the environment
Every individual animal or plant is a vast inner cooperation among interacting layers, a community of a hundred million million mutually dependent eukaryotic cells
I see God's hand in influencing man in all nations through philosophers, leaders, revealing holy writ all that He sees fit that they should have, revealing principles of morality and ethics to improve society through mutualism in contrast to intense competition
The core of a mutualism is the payment of what is "fitness-cheap" to you for what is "fitness-dear" to you.
If Selfish behavior of an individual gene causes a loss of reproductive fitness, group selection at the chromosome or whole genome level will tend to suppress that behavior
Cooperation became an evolutionary force when selection between groups are more important than selection between individual members within a group, ex. The evolution of the social insects, such as honeybees, into super organisms in which the entire colony behaves as an integrated whole
Millennia of experience show that by entering into a symbiotic relationship with nature, humankind can invent and generate futures not predictable from the deterministic order of things, and thus can engage in a continuous process of creation
The creativity of the genome, a distinct and separate force for change, must work hand-in-hand, and greater or lesser degree, with the editorial force of natural selection.
November 29, 2024
Not the easiest read for me but very interesting. The “blind spot” that Darwin didn’t pick up on is the impact of symbiosis on evolution. This idea seemed to be detailed by Lovelock and eventually promoted by Lynn Margilus that the popular “competitive theory” of what made changes in the world was not a complete picture. For example the melding of algae and fungus to bring plant life to land and changing our world is one. Both fungus and algae benefit and then created plantlife that changed our environment.
He goes on to point out symbiosis in nutrition and human behavior as well.
This idea seems similar to Suzanne Simards theory of how plants work together to keep each other alive and not necessarily against each other for resources.
This evolution stuff is fascinating. I wish I had more of a science background to grasp it all.
He goes on to point out symbiosis in nutrition and human behavior as well.
This idea seems similar to Suzanne Simards theory of how plants work together to keep each other alive and not necessarily against each other for resources.
This evolution stuff is fascinating. I wish I had more of a science background to grasp it all.
Currently Reading
August 3, 2011So far so very very good.....
February 4, 2025
In short the book is a slap, rather a bazooka, on the face of "Selfish Gene" or neo-Darwinism.
Selfish gene was an extremely problematic book, which described how success of aggressiveness depends on aggressiveness of rest of population in one chapter and then says group evolution of genes is not possible in the very next chapter. This books comprehensively shreds the weakness of the Neo-Darwinism theory on which the book is based.
However, the book is not without faults. It is a daunting read and could have been better organized. It is too focused on countering neo-Darwinism which make it seem a less important book than it actually is. And lastly it leaves some of key theories like the Gaia theory as some mystical theory because it fails to give a proper explanation for the theory. Gaia theory propounds that the living ecosystem regulates its environment, and it can be explained very well by observing that living beings mostly provide negative feedback to the environment (i.e. if a plant grows faster in higher COs, it will use more CO2 and thus will tend to limit growth in CO2). As we know from the systems theory, negative feedback loops lead to self regulating stable systems. The book fails to go into this explanation.
Selfish gene was an extremely problematic book, which described how success of aggressiveness depends on aggressiveness of rest of population in one chapter and then says group evolution of genes is not possible in the very next chapter. This books comprehensively shreds the weakness of the Neo-Darwinism theory on which the book is based.
However, the book is not without faults. It is a daunting read and could have been better organized. It is too focused on countering neo-Darwinism which make it seem a less important book than it actually is. And lastly it leaves some of key theories like the Gaia theory as some mystical theory because it fails to give a proper explanation for the theory. Gaia theory propounds that the living ecosystem regulates its environment, and it can be explained very well by observing that living beings mostly provide negative feedback to the environment (i.e. if a plant grows faster in higher COs, it will use more CO2 and thus will tend to limit growth in CO2). As we know from the systems theory, negative feedback loops lead to self regulating stable systems. The book fails to go into this explanation.
September 8, 2024
classic Munger Pick
Wonderful Read. Was directed to this book by Munger and it lived up to the hype. A new perspective on evolution.
Wonderful Read. Was directed to this book by Munger and it lived up to the hype. A new perspective on evolution.
December 17, 2019
How often do we challenge widely held beliefs? Our humanity gives us the gift of contemplation, which means that sometimes we must call into question what everyone takes at face value and say “is there more to this story than we think?” Following this logic, there are plenty of people who have dissented from being staunch Darwinian supporters to take a more holistic view of biology and evolution. Frank Ryan, author of Darwin’s Blindspot, focuses on how symbiotism and mutualism have guided almost every species on the planet on the path they are today. Darwin’s famous theorom, “survival of the fittest,” has been the sound byte used by evolutionists for over a century and a half, but it comes up short when looking to explain the undeniable interspecies alliances that happen throughout the world. Trees couldn’t survive without fungi at its roots providing water and nutrients in the same way that hermit crabs wouldn’t last without their protective anemone friends. Even humans, the mightiest of all creatures on Earth, would be nothing if it weren’t for the overwhelming majority of bacterium in their bodies. Just looking at our own species, all life would cease to exist if it weren’t for the cooperation (or mutualism) of jobs and societies. This might also help us view other forms of Darwinism, such as Social Darwinism, from a different perspective. History not only favors the winners but also the cooperaters who were better and more efficient than the individual. Brilliant books like these serve as a reminder that we should all challenge our views on the world as often as possible. More times than not, we’re not looking at the full story.
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April 17, 2010from motley fool
June 16, 2009
If you liked Origin of Species, you'll like this.
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