05066cam a2200613 a 4500 erosevolutionnat0000mich CaSfIA 20240716073454.0 m o d cr|||||||||||| 940526s1995 maua ob 001 0 eng 94013158 (OCoLC)1149020946 DLC eng DLC CNU UKM BAKER NLGGC BTCTA YDXCP NLE CNCGM TULIB OCLCO OCLCF P4I OCLCQ OCLCO I8M OCLCQ CaSfIA GB9587469 bnb 020140754X 9780201407549 0201442329 (pbk.) 9780201442328 (pbk.) QH481 .M53 1995 575/.5 20 42.21 bcl Michod, Richard E. Eros and evolution : a natural philosophy of sex / Richard E. Michod. Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., ©1995. 1 online resource (xxi, 241 pages : illustrations) text txt rdacontent unmediated n rdamedia volume nc rdacarrier Helix books Includes bibliographical references (pages 214-229) and index. Why sex? -- The early replicators -- Mrs. Anderson's baby -- Sex and death -- The undoing of sex -- Twice nothing -- Chance and necessity -- Plato's theory -- Darwinian dynamics -- Darwin's dilemmas. Also issued online. "A bee lands on a blossom, a stag rears back his head in bellowing, a human couple lies exhausted in passionate embrace. The flower, the deer, the human, even the unseen virus - they all must have sex. But why? When we think of sex, we may think of the pleasure and pain it causes us. But there is a more fundamental problem of sex. It is the unresolved question of why sex exists at all. What are the consequences of sex that make it so important to us and so widespread in nature? The answer to this question lies not in our own attitudes and feelings about sex, but deep in our evolutionary past." "Why did sex evolve as the means for reproduction for many species? Sex requires a huge commitment of time, energy, and resources, and it can even be physically dangerous. Sex is not the only path to reproduction - simple life forms do not practice sexual mating; offspring are produced by simple cell division. There are examples of higher life forms that practice asexual reproduction, in which the female reproduces alone. "Why sex?" is a question that was first raised by Charles Darwin in his Origin of the Species, and the answer has eluded biologists for over a century. In Eros and Evolution Richard Michod, a leading evolutionary biologist, begins his exploration into this question by pointing out the fatal flaws in the widely accepted "variation view," that sex is necessary for producing more diverse offspring than could be produced asexually. Chief among those flaws is the fact that sex undoes what it creates, producing a beneficial new combination of genes in one generation only to break it apart in the next. Michod argues that genetic variation and reproduction of organisms are side effects but not the sole purpose of sex. According to his revolutionary theory, sex has a more far-reaching mission: to repair and overcome the genetic errorsdamages and mutations - that threaten life. With lucid explanations and intriguing excursions into our evolutionary past, this book shows how sex maintains the well-being of genes and in so doing, provides for the immortality of life itself." "Yet, why sex exists is only part of the fascinating story in Eros and Evolution. This book also considers why it matters that sex exists. Michod deconstructs Darwin to explore such questions as "Why are there species?" and "Do organisms - as wonderfully designed as they are - really matter in evolution, or are they merely vehicles for the perpetuation of genes?" In the process he shows how what began as a necessary but mechanical process of gene repair has ended up forever changing the landscape of the living world."--Jacket. Sex (Biology) Evolution (Biology) Evolution (Biology) fast (OCoLC)fst00917302 Sex (Biology) fast (OCoLC)fst01114219 Seksualiteit. gtt Evolutie. gtt Erfelijkheid. gtt Natuurfilosofie. gtt Online version: Michod, Richard E. Eros and evolution. Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., ©1995 (OCoLC)621236664 Helix book. https://archive.org/details/erosevolutionnat0000mich Free eBook from the Internet Archive https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1089092M Additional information and access via Open Library erosevolutionnat0000mich ark:/13960/t0sr5bd5b