The Fifth Level of Evolution

The theory of evolution is well established by scientific evidence, but is far from explaining everything. Some puzzles remain pending whose resolution does not seem to be immediate:

• The origin of life. We do not know how, when and where it happened. There are many theories, but none has been proven and are very difficult to prove, because the origin of life, rather than a scientific fact, is a historical fact. It is not enough if we were able to reproduce it in the laboratory, it’s necessary to find documentary evidence that this is how it happened, not otherwise. It’s very likely that these tests cannot be found, because the paleontological traces of the origin of life have surely been lost.
• The mystery of the change in level. Throughout the history of life on Earth, living things have gone through several successive levels:

1.      Chemical evolution of proteins and nucleic acids, which could be considered the first level of life. Current viruses perhaps can be considered part of this level.

2.      The simplest cells (prokaryotes), bacteria and archaea, which constitute the second level of life.

3.      The most complex cells (eukaryotes), formed by the aggregation of many simpler cells (mitochondria and chloroplasts) within a larger cell, which belong to the third level of life.

4.      Multicellular beings (plants, fungi and animals), formed by many eukaryotic cells (sometimes billions): the fourth level of life.

5.      Societies of multicellular beings (polyps, hives, anthills, termite mounds), which can be considered as incipient individuals of the fifth level of life.

The theory of evolution does not currently have a valid explanation for the emergence of a new level. As natural selection seems to foster selfishness, a change in level is a triumph of altruism: a non-cancerous cell of a multicellular being is willing to die, if the good of the individual of the higher level demands it. How can this happen in an environment that favors selfishness? Until now, a change in level has resulted in the renunciation of reproduction by the majority of the individuals of the lower level who come together to make a unique individual.

• Is man just one animal? Many biologists say yes, but some argue that man should be considered rather as a kingdom. Are there critical points in evolution? Everything seems to indicate that one of these critical points was crossed between apes and man. After all, man studies chimpanzees, chimpanzees don’t study man.

With Homo sapiens we have crossed the threshold of a new type of evolution, cultural evolution, which is carried out following rules similar to those of genetic evolution, but not always the same.

• Does evolution have a direction? Again many biologists deny it, but reality goes against them. If we measure the amount of information available to each living being throughout the history of life, we can see a steady increase. This information was initially only genetic. In animals, a new way of storing it appeared, the nervous system. Finally, with man, and only with man, cultural information appeared.

Human society seems to be building, since a few decades ago, a new super-organism, where the role of the nervous system is represented by the Internet. However, that nervous system still has no head. Does that mean we are going towards the fifth level of evolution?

The book The fifth level of evolution attempts to answer the last question and argues that the fifth level is not a modern idea, but has somehow been known for two thousand years. The book was published in Spanish in 2005 (by Adhara publisher), and a second edition in Amazon in 2014. This third edition has now been published in English.

The two Spanish editions of the book have got reviews, both in the social network of books (Goodreads) and in Amazon. None of these reviews has been intermediate: my readers either love the book or hate it. It seems that the book arouses strong attractions or repulsions, which means that it deals with a subject that directly touches the convictions of the person who reads it.

One of the two negative reviews that appear on the book page in Amazon begins by saying this: I began to read the synopsis... as soon as I began, I found the concept of theory misused. And it ends with these words: Maybe only people who really know what they are talking about should write about evolution. Naturally, he rated my book with the minimum grade (one star). It was evident (he himself said it) that the author of the review had not read my book, just the Amazon synopsis, so I added this comment:

I would like to remind my detractor that before negatively criticizing a book, one must read it. Reading the Amazon review is not enough to know what the book is about. Throwing reprimands at a book without having read it, is one of the flaws criticized by Guillermo Díaz Plaja in "The Spaniard and the Seven Deadly Sins."

The other negative review accuses me of cheating, arguing that he takes from science what he wants, and what he does not, he omits. Of course, the review does not say which scientific questions I should have dealt with. It also remonstrates that I don’t explain in the book the atheist point of view. I also commented this review by saying the following:

About the accusation that this book is not well balanced, for I don’t explain the arguments against the existence of God: it’s curious that this accusation is not usually addressed to books written by atheists. Without looking further, I have never seen it addressed to "The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins. On the other hand, in my case the accusation is not well founded, since I have published another book (¿Es compatible Dios con la ciencia? ISBN 8415382863) entirely dedicated to presenting and refuting atheist arguments against the existence of God. I don't think I must repeat the same things in all my books. The reader should remember that a single book does not usually exhaust the thought of its author, and that, before accusing someone of something, one must investigate to see if the accusation is well founded.

About the positive reviews (there are at least five, among Amazon and Goodreads) I will say nothing here.

The same post in Spanish: Link1 Link2
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Manuel Alfonseca