Organodynamics	Grant Holland, Apr 25, 2014
Slide: Preview: The Primacy of Probability	Nav Refs Top Bottom Previous Next 90m 90m 45m 45m 25m 25m
Jacques Monod on Chance and the Persistence of Life… We call these events [DNA copy errors and genetic mutations] accidental; we say that they are random occurrences. And since they constitute the only possible source of modifications in the genetic text, itself the sole repository of the organism’s hereditary structures, it necessarily follows that chance alone is at the source of every innovation, of all creation in the biosphere. Pure chance, absolutely free but blind, at the very root of the stupendous edifice of evolution: this central concept of modern biology is no longer one among other possible or even conceivable hypotheses. It is today the sole conceivable hypothesis, the only one that squares with observed and tested fact. [Monod 1974]	18. Chance, Alone? I am not alone in this suspicion. Nobel laureate Jacques Monod, who co-discovered both the gene expression and the gene regulation mechanisms shortly after the discovery of DNA, expresses a belief in the primacy of chance in the development and evolution of life on earth. <See frame to the left.
19. No Need for Teleology at Fundamental Levels? I am also willing to test a stronger assertion: “Intentional behavior can be reasonably modeled by stochastic dynamics alone”. In other words, what appears to be teleology can be described by probability theory alone. That is, I claim that there is purely probabilistic analog to teleology; and that evolutionary biology is an instance of it. For example, the origins of life can be described by probability alone. There is no necessity for teleological explanations. I do not claim that an intentional being did not create life on earth – or that it did. I strongly suspect that such a teleological explanation is not necessary; but that probability alone provides a sufficient description.	20. Join Me Organodynamics is reverse-engineering the mechanisms of evolutionary biology and articulating them in the language of probabilities alone: entropic functionals and stochastic processes. Organodynamics is an ongoing project. A lot of fresh ideas are needed. I invite you to join me in investigating, refuting or contributing to these fascinating propositions.

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