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The Mystery of the Genome
Hoyle’s Big Picture
Fred Hoyle. 1999. Mathematics of Evolution. Acorn Enterprises, LLC, Memphis, TN. (note - unlike the others quoted here, Dr. Hoyle was not a geneticist, but a highly distinguished theoretical mathematician and physicist). “The aging process shows, indeed, that statements one frequently hears, to the effect that the Darwinian theory is as obvious as the Earth going round the Sun, are either expressions of almost incredible naiveté or they are deceptions…with such widespread evidence of senescence in the world around us, it still seems amazing that so many people think it “obvious” that the biological system as a whole should be headed in the opposite direction…”. “The best natural selection can do, subject to a specific environment, is hold the deleterious mutations in check. When the environment is not fixed there is slow genetic erosion, however, which natural selection cannot prevent.” “… natural selection cannot turn back deleterious mutations if they are small, and over a long time a large number of small disadvantages escalate to a serious handicap. This long term inability of natural selection to preserve the integrity of genetic material sets a limit to its useful life…”.