Abstract
Darwin faced a dilemma. He could explain the origin of species through variation, but he could not explain the origin of variation, on which his theory depended. Unable to accept that the variation-producing design in nature was merely random nor to accept Intelligent Design, these two unacceptable extremes framed Darwin’s dilemma. He needed a third option, a way to explain the origin of design in nature. I propose that, beyond the extremes of random variation with environmental selection versus Intelligent Design, there is a third option, which explains the origin of design in nature. This third option requires sacrificing a sacred cow, the traditional view that cognition is an attribute of advanced life, rather than of life itself. If the process of evolution underlies not only the origin and evolution of life but also intelligence, then life as a designer interprets interim solutions to recognize implicit patterns emerging in order to make them explicit. Life continually makes choices based on present imperfect information, with limited capacity to predict the future. This chapter proposes the A-PR hypothesis to address Darwin’s dilemma, describing how the origin of design in nature lies in life’s capacity to engage in A-PR (autonomy | pattern recognition) bootstrapping cycles where the A-PR cycle is the basic unit of creative cognition and defining attribute of life.
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8. Notes and Acknowledgments
This chapter, dedicated to the late Arthur Loeb, who led the Design Science program at Harvard, anticipates a forthcoming book pair on the origin of design in nature: If Microbes Begat Mind: from origins of life to emergence of intelligence and What Daedalus Told Darwin: from Darwin’s dilemma to the struggle for existence. The first focuses on the origin of mind in nature’s capacity for design, manifest at the threshold when the first nonliving system became alive. The second describes how the origin of design in nature is manifest in evolution. This book pair describes principles that govern emergence and self-organizing systems, addressing debates about the origin and evolution of life. I thank Chris McKay, Stuart Kauffman, and J Scott Turner for reviewing my work on the A-PR hypothesis.
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Gill, Z. (2012). A Response to Darwin’s Dilemma: A-PR Cycles and the Origin of Design in Nature. In: Swan, L., Gordon, R., Seckbach, J. (eds) Origin(s) of Design in Nature. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4156-0_26
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