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Limits to Evolvability

Original Article

The Misuse of Artificial Selection

Most people assume that evolution allows almost unlimited biological change. Even so, a few simple observations show that there are indeed limits to biological change. Certainly the ubiquitous presence of convergence suggests that biological change is not limitless since evolution appears to arrive at certain solutions again and again. There appear to be only so many ways that organisms can propel themselves through water, over land or through the air. The wings of insects, birds and bats, though not ancestrally related, all show certain design similarities. At the very least, various physical parameters constrain biological change and adaptation. Certainly there are physical constraints. But what about biological constraints?

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Raymond Bohlin

Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Raymond Bohlin received his Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is currently Vice-President of Vision Outreach for Probe Ministries and a Fellow at Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. He has lectured on more than two dozen college and university campuses, addressing origins issues as well as other science-related topics such as the environment, genetic engineering, medical ethics, and sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Bohlin's work has been published in the Journal of Thermal Biology, Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation and the Journal of Mammalogy. He is the author of The Natural Limits to Biological Change (Probe Books 1984), which he is currently revising and updating, and edited the book Creation, Evolution and Modern Science (Kregel, 2000).