This book proposes a new way to think about evolution. The author carefully brings together evidence from diverse fields of science. In the process, he bridges the gaps between many different, and often conflicting, ideas to present one integrative theory named ONCE, which stands for Organic Nonoptimal Constrained Evolution.
The author argues that evolution is not necessarily a process where organisms engage in an incessant, suffocating struggle in which only organisms that have an optimal or almost optimal match with the environment that they inhabit can become winners. Rather, evolution is generally made of mistakes and mismatches and trial-and-error situations, which are the ones that lead to new behaviors.
As ONCE demonstrates, these new behaviors drive evolution, not struggle. Readers will come to understand how it is the organisms themselves and in particular the choices they make that decide how they evolve.
This unique theory incorporates a more comprehensive view of the diversity and complexity of life. It corrects many of the wrong ideas in biology that have resulted from the traditional view of evolution as struggle. This insightful and well-reasoned argument will appeal to researchers, students, teachers, and those with an interest in the history and philosophy of science.
