local minima
description/examples, 122–123
See also combinatorial optimization problems
location
determination (landscapes), 105–107
vehicle routing problems, 119
Loewi, Otto, 161
London Symphony Orchestra, 138
Lorca, Federico Garcia, 176
LSD, 165, 166
Lynch, Michael, 78
Maar, Dora, 142
McCartney, Paul, 161
Macintosh computer, 165, 172
McKim, Robert, 164
Mandarte Island, 60
mandibular prognathism/consequences, 54, 55
Manx cats, 59–60
Mark Twain, 173
meditation, 163
Melomics, 138
Mendel, Gregor
pea plants genetics and, 28, 150
recognition and, 150
Mendeleev, Dmitri, 161
metaphor and creativity, 175–176, 190
microarray technology
description/functions, 50–51
experiment examples, 51
fitness landscapes and, 50–51
mimicry, 26–27
mind-wandering
creativity and, 161–163, 164
description/examples, 161–163
mindfulness vs., 163
mindfulness vs. mind-wandering, 163
mobile DNA
damage and, 76–77
description, 75–76, 77
genetic drift and, 77
natural selection and, 76–77
regulatory sequences and, 76
molecular fingerprint and plants, 58
Morgan, Thomas Hunt
chromosomes/genetic mapping and, 33
“fly boys” and, 33
fruit fly experiments and, 31, 32, 33
genetic complexity and, 32
moths, peppered
adaptive landscapes and, 17–19, 18 (fig.), 19 (fig.), 28–29, 29 (fig.)
air pollution effects, 14–15, 17–19, 18 (fig.), 19 (fig.)
allele and, 14–15, 28
antennae/types and, 29–30
description, 13
genotypes and, 28
phenotypes and, 28
“survival of the fittest” and, 13–15, 17–19, 18 (fig.), 19 (fig.)
typica/carbonaria types explained, 28
wing color types/wing size/antenna size and, 28–30, 29 (fig.)
Mozart, 2–3, 135, 137, 140, 149
mule as hybrid, 91
Müller, Fritz, 26
Müllerian mimicry, 26–27
Mullis, Kary, 165
music composition
computers and, 136–138
limited amount/value and, 136
“recombinant music,” 137
musical dice game, 135–136
mutations
adaption/adaptive landscapes and, 18–19
alleles and, 18
as blind, 18
complexity and, 35–36
DNA typos and, 35–36
moths example and, 17, 18
point mutations, 35, 120
processes producing, 35
understanding and, 144
See also specific examples
Narrative Science, 138–139
National Academy of Sciences, US, 172–173
National Institutes of Health, 210
National Inventors Hall of Fame, 147
National Science Foundation, 201
natural selection
adaption/adaptive landscapes and, 18–19, 18 (fig.), 19 (fig.)
Darwin and, 4, 12
descriptions, 16, 37–38, 127–128
genetic drift “relationship” and, 79
getting stuck/dead-ends and, 6, 16, 38, 42, 43, 47, 52, 69, 91, 110, 122, 159–160
local peak and, 38
as not enough (evolution) and, 4, 6, 16, 37, 60
overcoming uphill pull and population size/time, 67–68
as uphill, 5 (fig.), 6, 37–38, 40, 42, 43, 52, 60, 66, 79, 81, 83, 109, 114, 121, 152, 164
Nature, 195
nautilus, 21–22
See also ammonites
Newcomen, Thomas, 147–148
Newton, Isaac, 132–133, 149, 162
Nobel Prize/laureates, 33, 103, 148, 150, 160, 161, 165, 169, 170, 172, 173, 193, 197, 201, 204, 205
non-coding DNA
costs/calculations, 74–75
costs/natural selection and, 74–75
description, 73–74
DNA duplication/mutation and, 74
E. coli vs. humans, 73
gene duplication and, 74
gene regulation and, 79
genetic drift and, 75
humans and, 73–74
process/increasing, 74
See also pseudogenes
nuclear medicine, 170
nucleotide building blocks, 34
Obama, Barack, 187, 208
Ojos Azules cats, 57
Old Man’s Winter Night, An (Frost), 176
orchids and lures, 49, 51
organism size
DNA letter numbers and, 72–73
genetic drift and, 71, 72–73, 77
genomes and, 71–74, 77–79
population size and, 72
Origin of Species (Darwin), 16, 142
oxygen-binding proteins/evolution, 84–85
Pachet, François, 138
Padel, Ruth, 176
Paris World Fair (1937), 141
Pasteur, Louis
“chance” quote, 145–146
silkworms/silk industry and, 171
vaccinations and, 148
Pauling, Linus, 147, 193
Payne, Joshua, 51
penicillin, 41, 83, 87, 160, 208
pentachlorophenol, 93
Perugino, Pietro, 168
pesticides, 93
phenotypes
definition, 28
peppered moths and, 28
Philip I, King, 54
physics, theory of statistical physics, 111
Piaget, Jean, 160–161
Picasso, Pablo
creativity/process and, 2–3, 141–142, 143, 145, 146, 155
Guernica and, 141–142, 143, 145, 146, 154–155
Pilloton, Emily, 190
Pinker, Steven, 175
PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), 186
Planck, Max, 174, 219
play
comparisons to genetic drift/heat, 160, 166
costs/benefits, 158–159
creativity and, 157–160, 164, 166
description/examples, 157–160
playful environment and, 164–165
Plunckett, Roy, 147
pneumonia bacterium, 33
Poincaré, Henri, 155–156, 162
point mutations, 35, 120
polygenic variation
definition, 15
examples and, 15
Prigogine, Ilya, 169, 170, 173
Private Eye Project, 190
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), 186
Project H/Studio H, 190–191
prolactin, 34
protein enzymes, 24, 40
protein hormones, 34–35
protein texts library, 40–41
proteins
alternative splicing and, 45
antifreeze proteins, 3
folding, 34
functions/examples, 34–35, 39–40
heat/vibrations and, 34, 110
as research unit, 40
sound detection and, 45
synthesis, 34, 39–40
pseudogenes
formation and, 74
human numbers of, 75, 77
Rabinow, Jacob, 147
radioimmunoassay, 170
Ramón y Cajal, Santiago, 197
Raphael, 168, 211
rats and play benefits, 159
Raup, David
ammonite swimming e
fficiency and, 23–24, 23 (fig.)
ammonites/traits and, 22, 23–24
Chamberlain and, 22
recombination
adaptive landscapes/evolution and, 7, 90–99, 140
as almost universal, 97
“asexual” species and, 95–97
creativity and, 173–176, 183, 220
description/importance, 7, 88–89
DNA shuffling and, 94–95
genetic algorithms and, 128
genetic teleportation and, 88–99
“landing” and, 97–99
non-destructive changes and, 97–99
“recombinant music,” 137
sex/sex importance and, 88–91, 96
species without human type of, 95–97
regulators
adaptive landscapes and, 85–86
birth defects and, 49
DNA words and, 48–50, 73
transcribing genes into RNA and, 48–49
when/where effects, 48–49, 50–51
reporting, automated reporting, 138–139
Rhetoric (Aristotle), 175
ribosomes, 44–45
ribozyme, 45–46
Rilke, Rainer Maria, 155
Rips, Lance, 176
Rivera, Diego, 146
RNA (ribonucleic acid)
alternate splicing and, 45–46
descriptions/functions, 34, 44–46
DNA comparison, 44
energy harvesting and, 3, 47–48
protein synthesis and, 34, 44
ribozymes and, 45–46
telomerase/telomeres and, 44
Robinson, James, 215
rock garden, Ryoanji Zen temple of Kyoto, 134–135
Rodríguez, José Aguilar, 51
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 200
Root-Bernstein, Robert, 172
Rothamstead agricultural research station, 15
Rothenberg, Albert, 181
rotifers, bdelloid, 96–97
Round Island, 70–71
Rubin, Vera, 193
Ruef, Kerry, 190
Rutherford, Ernest, 149
Ryoanji Zen temple of Kyoto, 134–135
Santa Claus and routing, 129
Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico, 199–200
Schwarzrock, Ted, 179–180
Science, The Endless Frontier (Bush), 200–201
sea lions, 158
seals, fur, 158
Selfish Gene (Dawkins), 76
Sewall Wright effect, 61
See also genetic drift
Shelley, Mary, 161
Simonton, Dean
age/creativity, 151
failure/creativity, 150
historical creative output analysis, 211–212
human creativity/evolution connection, 142
Picasso’s Guernica/sketches and, 154–155
Simpson, George Gaylord, 20
simulated annealing
algorithms/greedy algorithms, 123–124, 125–126, 128–129, 134
annealing/heat and, 123
“cooling” and, 124, 129
siphuncle, 21
Skinner, B.F., 149
snakes
anatomy and, 49
split-jaw snake feeding and, 70–71
warning colors and, 25
snowflakes
descriptions, 112–113, 134, 140
diversity, 112–113
growth of, 113
See also crystals
Soay sheep, 60
Socrates, 206
solar cells/efficiency, 132
solutions
art and, 2
creativity and, 3
See also creativity
sound pitch
brains encoding, 152–153
description, 152
Souriau, Paul, 156
Spanish Habsburg line, 54–55
spiders and play, 159
spliceosome, 45
standardized tests
alternatives, 191–192
problems with, 162, 163, 187, 188, 189, 192
Star Trek analogy, 88, 97
Steiner-Johns, Vera, 146
Stemmer, Pim, 94, 95
Studio H/Project H, 190–191
surgical staples, 174–175
Szent-Györgyi, Albert, 182
Taizong, Emperor, 188
Tawfik, Dan, 87
Teflon, 147
teleportation, genetic teleportation, 88–99
telescope positioning, 115
telomeres/telomerase, 44
Tempo and Mode in Evolution (Simpson), 20
thoughts, causes of, 143–144
thymine base, 34
Torrance, E. Paul, 179
Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, 179, 188
Tourangeau, Roger, 176
tourist destinations routing, 129
Transfiguration of Christ, The (Raphael), 168
traveling salesman problem (TSP), 116–117
trucking vehicle routing problem, 115–116, 118–119, 118 (fig.)
Turing, Alan
computing vision, 126
test for distinguishing AI/human intelligence, 136–137, 138
Turing test, 136–137, 138
Tutankhamun, King
deformities/inbreeding and, 53–54, 60
tomb and fetuses/canes, 53
underworld mythological journeys, 155
UNESCO World Heritage Site, 134
Valéry, Paul, 146
van der Waals force, 105
van Tonder, Gert, 134–135
van Veenendaal, Albert, 138
vehicle routing problems (VRP)
adaptive landscapes vs., 119–121
algorithms and, 116, 119–121
computer chips/wiring and, 117
crystal/atom diffraction measurements and, 117
elevation, 119
location, 119
natural selection vs., 121
other examples, 116–117
swapping and, 120–121
telescope positions and, 115
traveling salesman problem (TSP), 116–117
trucking/VRP and, 115–116, 118–119, 118 (fig.)
See also combinatorial optimization problems; cost landscape/profile
velcro, 175
volume measuring, 162
von Helmholtz, Hermann
background, 170–171
climbing/evolution and, 52
problem solving comparisons, 8, 99, 156
VRP. See vehicle routing problems (VRP)
Wagner, Andreas
background/education background, 195–196
roles, 3–4
university applications/applicants, 194–195, 196, 197–198
work/studies of, 3–4, 83–84, 86–87, 97
warning coloration/aposematic colors
adaptive landscapes and, 25–26
advantages, 25
convergent evolution and, 26–27
description, 24–25
Müllerian mimicry/mimicry and, 26–27
origins and, 27
See also specific examples
Watson, James, 33–34, 160
Weinreich, Daniel, 42–43
Westermarck effect, 58
When Will You Marry (Gauguin), 168
White, Michelle J., 214
Why Nations Fail (Acemoglu and Robinson), 215
Wilson, E.O., 193
Wilson, Robert R., 172
Woods, Tiger, 7
World Health Organization List of Essential Medicines, 41
World Heritage Site, UNESCO, 134
Wright, Sewall
background/expertise, 5, 8, 15–16, 17
breeding work and, 5, 15–16, 17
gene interaction complexity and, 16, 28
genetic drift and, 61
Haldane/Fisher work and, 12, 15, 16
landscape concept and, 5–6, 17, 20–21, 24, 28, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38, 40, 51–52
pedigree studies, 16
Yalow,
Rosalyn, 179
“Yesterday” (McCartney), 161
Zhao Gu, 188
zorse as hybrid, 91
Zuckerberg, Mark, 210
Notes
Prologue
1. Appropriateness is no less important than originality: “Forty-one” is a highly original response to the question about the sum of two plus two, but it is not appropriate. Psychologists also make further distinctions, such as that between the creativity of a product (the Mona Lisa, Beethoven’s symphonies, or General MacArthur’s battle plan) and creativity as a personality trait, really a disposition, found in highly creative people like Mozart or Einstein to bring forth creative products. See page 152 of Eysenck (1993). For the purpose of this book, a product-centered definition of creativity is most appropriate.
2. See page 33 of Kubler (1962).
3. Although, as I mention in Chapter 1, Wright’s own experiments used guinea pigs.
4. It is worth keeping in mind that in the realm of biology natural selection is not synonymous with competition. For example, under fertility selection, where organisms in a population differ in the number of offspring they have, perhaps through their genetic makeup and not through any limitation in resources, more fertile lineages may come to dominate a population without any need for competition. If I juxtapose competition and selection throughout, it’s because competition is perhaps the closest analogue to selection in the human realm.
5. See page 282 of von Helmholtz (1908). This edited volume is from 1908, but the passage in question stems from a lecture that von Helmholtz gave in 1891.
Chapter 1: The Cartography of Evolution
1. See page 38 of Clark (2013).
2. See Chapters 1–3 of Clark (2013).
3. See page 100 of Clark (2013).
4. See page 70 of Clark (2013).
5. See Darwin (1859).
6. See Vol. 1, Chapter IX of Darwin (1868).
7. For a concise summary of pertinent evidence and a spirited defense of Darwin’s theory see Coyne (2005).
8. The term survival of the fittest was coined in 1864 by Herbert Spencer and adopted by Darwin a few years later in his fifth edition of Origin.
9. See Kettlewell (1973) and Majerus (1998). Note that these experiments were performed long after Darwin’s time. See also the blog entry “The Peppered Moth Story Is Solid” by evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne on his blog “Why Evolution Is True” at http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/the-peppered-moth-story-is-solid/.
10. Haldane (1924).
11. Haldane called the difference in fitness between two organisms a selection coefficient, a term still used in textbooks almost one hundred years later.
12. See Chapters 5 and 9 of Provine (1986) as well as Wright (1978). By complex interactions I specifically mean that genes interact non-additively, non-linearly, or (in genetic jargon) epistatically when bringing forth a phenotype.
13. Wright (1932). An earlier predecessor was proposed by the French scientist Armand Janet in 1895, but it lacked the genetic component essential to understanding evolution. See Dietrich and Skipper (2012).
14. See Dietrich and Skipper (2012) and Skipper and Dietrich (2012). Pigliucci (2012) discusses useful distinctions between different kinds of landscapes.
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