Proving Darwin: Making Biology Mathematical

For years it has been received wisdom among most scientists that, just as Darwin claimed, all of the Earth’s life-forms evolved by blind chance. But does Darwin’s theory function on a purely mathematical level? Has there been enough time for evolution to produce the remarkable biological diversity we see around us? It’s a question no one has yet answered—in fact, no one has even attempted to answer it until now.

In this illuminating and provocative book, Gregory Chaitin argues that we can’t be sure evolution makes sense without a mathematical theory. He elucidates the mathematical scheme he’s developed that can explain life itself, and examines the works of mathematical pioneers John von Neumann and Alan Turing through the lens of biology. Chaitin presents an accessible introduction to metabiology, a new way of thinking about biological science that highlights the mathematical structures underpinning the biological world. Fascinating and thought-provoking, Proving Darwin makes clear how biology may have found its greatest ally in mathematics.

A Parable

Contradictory Quotes?

Problem Solvers and Theorizers, by Gian-Carlo Rota

Preface

1. Introduction: Overview of Proving Darwin

2. Life as Evolving Software: The Evolution of Mutating Software

3. The Human Discovery of Software: Turing and von Neumann as Biologists

4. The Mathematics of Metabiology: Random Walks in Software Space

5. Santa Fe Institute Lecture: A Mathematical Theory of Evolution and Biological Creativity

6. Theological Aspects of Metabiology

7. The Politics of Creativity (Social Darwinism→Social Metabiology)

8. What Can Mathematics Ultimately Accomplish? Metabiology and Beyond

Appendix 1. Von Neumann’s “DNA = Software” Paper

Appendix 2. The Heart of the Proof

Further Reading

Index