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73 Evolutionary biology, as an historical science, is particularly plagued by teleological explanations, observed Mayr.”’ Does the direction of evolution have a teleological purpose—an innate aim to create higher life forms? The idea that life is the manifestation of a universal organizing principle is not new; it can be traced back to Aristotle. Darwin himself suggested that “the principle of life will hereafter be shown to be a part, or conse- quence, of some general law.”** Yet, the dominant scientific paradigm has long been against teleology and any hint of progress toward a goal. More recently, we have seen growing interest in emergent properties. Noting that self-organization abounds in physics and chemistry, Davies argued that it would be astonishing if self-organization did not occur in biology too. Yet, any suggestion that biological order might arise spontane- ously is considered a dangerous heresy. The biosphere as a whole is undeniably more complex today than it was 3 billion years ago. The most complex organisms today clearly have a much greater complexity than the most complex organisms in the remote past. “Life, when allowed to flourish, rides an escalator of growth,” argued Davies, “filling out every available niche, exploring new and better possi- bilities, developing ever more elaborate forms.” If we detect the presence of an alien intelligence, it would suggest that there is a progressive evolutionary trend outside the mechanism of natural selection. This assumption, made by most SETI scientists, strikes at the very heart of neo-Darwinism. Davies concluded that biological evolution is just one more example of a lawlike progressive trend that pervades the cosmos. This does not mean that Darwinism is wrong, only that it is incomplete.” Biological determinists like Nobel Prize winner de Duve believe that life will inevitably emerge, given enough time and favorable conditions; they see life as a preordained consequence of the laws of nature. However, de Duve cautioned that a deterministic view of the origin of life does not necessarily imply that life is widespread in the universe. It only means that life is as frequent or as rare as the physical and chemical conditions under which it must arise.” Reacting to attempts to create life in the laboratory, Wald argued that experimenters are not creating life; they are simply trying to establish the conditions in which life can emerge. Life is part of the order of nature. It has a high place in that order; it probably represents the most complex state of organization that matter has achieved in our universe.*! Other scientists also are starting to see life as a manifestation of a uni- versal tendency toward self-organization. When complexity theory reveals Teleology and Self-Organization Teleology and Self-Organization