Resumen de Life chances
Some biologists argue that evolution is a deterministic process, that similar environments will tend to produce similar outcomes. Others, the most famous of whom was Stephen Jay Gould, think its course follows unpredictable twists and turns, and that the same starting point can lead to very different results. The answer does matter. If the Gould camp is right, the study of evolution is like the study of history: something people can understand only in retrospect. If, however, the vagaries of chance play just a minor role, then biologists can predict the course of evolution to a large extent--and predicting evolution is crucial to stopping tumors becoming drug-resistant, or bacteria shrugging off an antibiotic, or bedbugs becoming immune to pesticides, or viruses killing people who have been vaccinated against them and soon. Here, Holmes examines how much of evolution relies on randomness.
