The book centers on a legendary scientific disagreement between two titans of biology:
In his compelling book, , evolutionary biologist Jonathan Losos explores this profound question. By examining the tug-of-war between contingency (random luck) and convergence (predictable patterns), Losos offers a new lens through which to view our place in the cosmos. The Great Debate: Gould vs. Conway Morris
On the other side, Conway Morris argues that natural selection is so powerful that it inevitably finds the same "solutions" to environmental problems. If an environment needs a fast swimmer, it will eventually produce something like a shark, a dolphin, or an ichthyosaur—independently. Testing the "Improbable" in the Real World
If evolution is predictable on Earth, it might be predictable on other planets, giving us a hint of what extraterrestrial life might look like. Final Thoughts
Understanding how bacteria predictably evolve resistance can help us fight "superbugs".
While these were once purely philosophical thought experiments, Losos shows that we can now test them using . He takes readers from laboratory flasks to remote islands to meet the scientists "rewinding the tape" in real-time:
