Self-organizing morphogenetic mechanisms as processors of evolution.

Abstract

Many organismic shapes and ornamentations are analogous to self-organizing patterns in the non-biological world. lt is suggested that responsible processes become first serendipitously "adopted" by developmental systems and then "lamed" by Darwinian selection as soon as a specific function has been acquired. Yet, taming can only reduce, bul not eliminare, the unpredictability of the dynamic systems at the local level.