Deep origins of maladaptation

Abstract

Abstract The chapter explores the relationship between life and maladaptation, arguing that maladaptation has been inextricably associated with life from its earliest origins in chemical evolution. The origin of life is discussed to establish the origin of the open-ended kind of natural selection that distinguishes biological evolution from its chemical counterparts. Theories of the origin of life are synthesised as either replicator- or organism-first, also identifying hybrid theories that blend elements of each. Despite experimental and theoretical progress, it is argued that the key challenge for understanding the origin of life remains one of imagination. A thought experiment is used to illustrate how chemical evolution has a tendency towards maladaptation, which must be overcome before biological evolution can take off. A simple mechanism is identified that explains not only how biological evolution can get started, but also why it was a probable beginning. Consequently, it is suggested that maladaptation was present from before the beginnings of biological evolution by natural selection, associating it inextricably with all living things.