The Logic of Chance. On the Nature and Origin of Biological Evolution

In this ambitious book, Evgeny Kunin sheds light on the intertwining of the random and the necessary, which underlie the very essence of life. In an attempt to achieve a deeper understanding of the mutual influence of chance and necessity that drives biological evolution forward, Kunin unifies new data and concepts, outlining a path that leads beyond the synthetic theory of evolution. He interprets evolution as a stochastic process, based on unforeseen circumstances, constrained by the necessity of maintaining cellular organization, and guided by the process of adaptation. To support his conclusions, he brings together a multitude of conceptual ideas: comparative genomics, which sheds light on ancestral forms; a new understanding of the patterns, methods, and unpredictability of the evolutionary process; advances in the study of gene expression, protein prevalence, and other phenotypic molecular characteristics; the application of statistical physics methods to the study of genes and genomes; and a new perspective on the probability of the spontaneous emergence of life, fostered by modern cosmology.
The Logic of Chance demonstrates that the understanding of evolution developed by 20th-century science is outdated and incomplete, and outlines a fundamentally new approach that is provocative, sometimes contradictory, but always grounded in solid scientific knowledge.