Cooperation Over Competition

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Lynn Margulis, was an American biologist and University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst): “Lynn Margulis claims that symbiotic relationships are a major driving force behind evolution. According to Margulis (1996), “Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking” (i.e., by cooperation, interaction, and mutual dependence between living organisms). She considers Darwin’s notion of evolution driven by competition to be incomplete.

“In 1981, Margulis published Symbiosis in Cell Evolution in which she proposed that the eukaryotic cells originated as communities of interacting entities that joined together in a specific order. The prokaryote elements could have entered a host cell, perhaps as an ingested prey or as a parasite. Over time, the elements and the host could have developed a mutually beneficial interaction, later evolving in an obligatory symbiosis.

“Symbiogenesis is a theory of evolution. It argues that symbiosis is a primary force of evolution, because acquisition and accumulation of random mutations or genetic drift are not sufficient to explain how new inherited variations occur. According to this theory, new cell organelles, new bodies, new organs and new species arise from symbiosis, in which independent organisms merge to form composites. This challenges some standard textbook ideas of how evolutionary change occurs. To some degree, Darwin emphasized competition as the primary driving process of evolution, symbiogenesis emphasizes that co-operation can also be important to the process of evolution.

“Margulis’ theory of symbiogenesis: Lynn Margulis claimed that microorganisms are one of the major evolutionary forces in the origin of species, endosymbiosis of bacteria being responsible for the creation of complex forms of life.

“Margulis emphasizes that bacteria and other microorganisms actively participated in shaping the Earth, and helped create conditions suitable for life (e.g., almost all eukaryotes require oxygen, and only developed after cyanobacteria have produced enough atmospheric oxygen). She also argues that these microorganisms still maintain current conditions and that they constitute a major component in Earth biomass.”

My Comment: To the extent of the transition from the levels of instinctive, controlled matter, from the levels of still, vegetative, animate, to the information level a “Human Being,” from linear development of egoism to the integral world, we are increasingly revealing the full interconnection of all parts of the world, their mutual dependence.

Our penetration into the information layer of the world will reveal its greatness and authority over the lower levels of nature. A “Human Being” is not an animal body, but information which in principle will be able to exist in any carrier and even without it, in any space, dimension. As Norbert Wiener, the founder of cybernetics, argued, a “human” can be passed at any distance (meaning that a human being is information, not protein formation).
[81428]

Related Material:
Evolution Is Based On Cooperation Rather Than Competition
Collaboration: A Property Inherent In Nature
Unknown Laws Of Nature Are Responsible For The Self-Organization Of The Biosphere

Discussion | Share Feedback | Ask a question




Laitman.com Comments RSS Feed