Right, so we're supposed to be creatures whose every action tries to contribute towards furthering our species in the process which we call 'evolution'. However, could it be that we humans could have power over evolution itself?

For instance, if we all (by some dictatorial government or other, the mechanism doesn't matter) had to / for some reason decided to stop all breeding, we could destroy our own species - or if by some future incredibly powerful biochemical weapon of some sort, we could wipe out all life on earth? (On purpose or by accident). Could we even stop evolution by altering genes/DNA in some way or stopping mitosis/meiosis in all organisms?

Another related question is what is evolution? Is it a concept formulated by us humans which does not actually 'exist' or is it an external process? God, anyone? Is evolution confined to Earth or could it exist on other planets - how can we possibly know that life on other planets is controlled by evolution? Life on other planets might be based on elements other than carbon (and silicon), maybe elements that we haven't even discovered yet. What might this life be like?

When Darwin discovered the evolutionary process, the idea that we could control our evolution became very popular. It became the basis for various philosophical movements such as social darwinism and eugenics. Francis Galston (Darwin's cousin) and Herbert Spencer were exponents of these kinds of views. But there are many problems. We still don't know if we can run economic systems, let alone evolutionary ones. And also the scale of time over which evolutionary processes take place are enormous in human terms. We have not physically changed much for (I think) around 50,000 years. History only goes back around 4-6 thousand years.

As for 'what is evolution', a great question and one worthy of much study. In a specific sense, Darwin described it in terms of reproduction with inheritance guided by selective pressures, caused by the scarcity of resources and the competition to survive. But in a broader sense, the whole universe is engaged in an evolutionary process - everything is continually evolving. Evolution is the most dynamic of outlooks.[/[/U]QUOTE]

Evolution in living organisms and 'evolution' in the universe in general are obviously not the same thing - change would be a better word for it.

It could exist by a mechanism completely different to evolution we haven't even considered; maybe beyond our understanding - we get bogged down in that all life exists by evolution, but we can only apply this to our planet, one of billions or trillions. Why should DNA etc exist in organisms on other planets / parts of the universe?

Maybe, but if there's no evolution there can only be life in its most simple form. Of course there could be intelligent life that just came out of nothing, but I think this is as plausible as the gravitation doesn't exist in other parts of the universe. You have to remember that the the same laws probably exist in the entire universe, and therefor the same elements. And that limits the ways life can be created. Life probably has to have some sort of genetic information, and this information can probably change over time. I mean, can there really be any living material that can't change?

I don't think you consider how huge and diverse the universe is; just as a start, what about this "dark flow" which has recently come to light, which could potentially undermine all the 'laws' of the universe? I am, however, skeptical of this (especially as it is a newly discovered phenomenon) but if this can be discovered, what next? We cannot be too certain of science, throughout history we have seen some scientists proved wrong, laws changed and confidence shaken - our understanding of science may never be total, if that indeed is even possible.

And why should organisms have to change? In evolution, organisms have to adapt to stimuli (which are very hard to define for humans) - because we live on a changing planet - if conditions were constant for a long period of time, why would living things have to change? This is just an example though, who knows what might be elsewhere in the universe.