Mr. William Blake

The Divine Image

The Divine Image

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love

All pray in their distress;

And to these virtues of delight

Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love

Is God, our father dear,

And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love

Is Man, his child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart,

Pity a human face,

And Love, the human form divine,

And Peace, the human dress.

Then every man, of every clime,

That prays in his distress,

Prays to the human form divine,

Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form,

In heathen, Turk, or Jew;

Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell

There God is dwelling too.

Esteemed biologist Michael Levin explores a captivating biological perspective on evolution — one that’s hard for engineers to come to terms with. In their work, making random changes to a system usually makes things worse, not better. https://bigthink.com/the-well/evolution-explained-by-a-biologist/

But evolution, on the other hand, doesn’t just produce specific solutions to specific challenges; instead, it creates what Levin calls “problem-solving machines.” These machines are made up of hierarchical biological hardware with incredible adaptability, capable of tackling various challenges without assuming specific environmental conditions.

Contrary to commonly held ideas about evolution, it doesn’t just search for the best possible physical characteristics in organisms. It also uses signals and behaviors to shape how organisms function, so when things change or get damaged, the different parts of an organism can continue to function.  From metabolic to physiological dilemmas, Levin highlights evolution’s remarkable ability to adapt.

https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Bio27Tuat01-t1-body-d3.html

An exciting aspect of Croizat's “panbiogeography” is that the formerly disparate disciplines of biogeography and evolution become integrated within the framework of a single general synthesis. This synthesis recognises evolution as the interaction of “space, time and form” and Croizat summarises the concept of evolution by the formula: Evolution equals space + time + form. In contrast, orthodox evolutionary studies concentrate on form (over time) and this is reflected in the definitions given by Eldredge (1979) of “descent with modification” and “change in gene frequencies”.

Croizat's unique approach to evolution is to use biogeographic analysis as the basis for understanding the process responsible for change in form through time and over space. This analysis has furbished concepts that lead not only to a re-evaluation of Darwin's understanding of dispersal but also the role of natural selection as the primary mechanism of change. Although not the first to question the power of natural selection, Croizat discusses extensively the concept and role of another evolutionary process called “orthogeny” and investigates its relationship to adaptation and other aspects of organic evolution.

The orthodox evolutionary framework recognises directionality (or trend) in evolution but attributes this to natural selection (Stebbins 1967,139; Dobzhansky 1970,391; Dobzhansky et al. 1977,120; Mayr 1978,47; Gould 1982,381; Campbell 1982,192). However there exist in nature, “types of organisation” (recognisable “structural” groups) to which the member organisms are seen to conform, regardless of their environment or manner of adaptation. This shows that despite variation in environment acting on an organisim through natural selection, the form of the organism is already determined according to the type of organisation inherited. This process of non-environmental determination is therefore a set of inherent tendencies which “orient” evolution regardless of environment. This is the process Croizat (1964,678) refers to as “orthogeny”. By way of example, a scorpion “adapted” to the desert is a “scorpion” rather than the type of organisation of similarly “adapted” organisms such as a “tortoise” or a “camel”.

Apart form “orthogeny” a variety of terms have been used in reference to internally directed evolution or inherent tendencies, including “orthogenesis” (first used by William Haake in 1893 and later adopted by Eimer 1898,19); “nomogenesis” (Berg 1926); “germinal stream” (Metcalf 1928); and “internal factors” (Whyte 1963, Grasse 1977). Less explicit reference has been made by other biologists using terms such as “oriented evolution” (Simpson 1960); “nature of the organism” (Dobzansky 1960,407); and “historical burden” (Wiley & Brooks 1982). Athough PAGE 15differing perhaps in detail, all of these terms encompass a fundamental concept of inherent directionality and in the following discussion of this concept Croizat's term will be used.

Although well known for the evolutionary synthesis “Origin of Species by Natural Selection” Darwin also attributed evolution to directional factors independent of the environment which he repeatedly referred to as “laws of growth”. Some of these statements are reproduced elsewhere in this issue. Darwin's reference to laws of growth is important because it shows that just as Darwin knew of vicariant form making (Croizat 1964;621) he was also aware of orthogeny, Vicariant form making is a fundamental aspect of dispersal (and therefore evolution in general). During evolution different forms evolve in different localities so they replace each other over space to form a mosaic pattern (Croizat 1961,1454). Examples and the implications of vicariism are discussed extensively throughout Croizat's work. However vicariism was subsumed by Darwin under “centres of origin” and “means of dispersal” while orthogeny was neglected in favour of “natural selection” in his general synthesis.

And let me add in the study of form https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Arcy_Wentworth_Thompson

The Journal of Lingering Sanity fights for an audience on Substack. 

And of course in presenting the naked lunch at fork point Lingering Sanity is enabling the taste of the reader to come into play.   Your contribution or subscription buys cat food for my two muses.  

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