For over a century, evolution has been understood as a simple and powerful story: random genetic changes occur, and natural selection preserves those that enhance survival. Life has “no purpose in mind”. It just happens. But current research in epigenetics and chaos theory is revealing a messier reality. Genes and DNA are not just a set of fixed instructions. Their impact depends on whether they are expressed, which depends on the cell environment. Moreover, living systems can generate order internally, without it being the consequence of selection. And while the evolutionary story is getting more complex, it is getting no closer to providing an explanation of consciousness and experience.
Should we conclude that evolution is not just a blind process and see life as actively shaping itself? Is consciousness more than a clever biological trick, and a sign that the evolutionary account is inherently limited? Or is it a fundamental mistake to seek to reintroduce purpose into evolution — which risks sneaking cosmic meaning and religion back in when Darwin had shown them to be superfluous?
Should we conclude that evolution is not just a blind process and see life as actively shaping itself? Is consciousness more than a clever biological trick, and a sign that the evolutionary account is inherently limited? Or is it a fundamental mistake to seek to reintroduce purpose into evolution — which risks sneaking cosmic meaning and religion back in when Darwin had shown them to be superfluous?
