Evolution of Intelligent Behavior

Abstract

Several issues have been raised regarding the nature of biology in a universal context: (1) life is a cosmic imperative (De Duve, 1995); (2) multicellular life is a rare phenomenon in the cosmos, although the existence of microbial life may still be widespread. This possibility has been referred as the “Rare-Earth” Hypothesis. (Ward and Brownlee, 2000). We shall develop a third possibility: (3) evolution of intelligent behavior is just a matter of time and preservation of steady planetary conditions, and hence ubiquitous in the universe (Chela-Flores, 2003a, b). Darwin’s theory of evolution is assumed to be the only theory that can adequately account for the phenomena that we associate with life anywhere in the universe. This question is motivated by the problem of understanding the bases on which we can get significant insights into the question of the distribution of life in the universe. Such information would also have deep implications on the other frontier of astrobiology mentioned above, the destiny of life in the universe. We argue in favor of the inevitability of life by assuming that Darwinian evolution is a universal process (Dawkins, 1983) and that the role of contingency has to be seen in the context of evolutionary convergence, not only in biology, but also in other realms of science. We shall restrict our discussions to astrobiology. The four areas which define this new science are: the origin, evolution, distribution and destiny of life in the universe. It is undoubtedly the fourth one, which is most likely to encourage interdisciplinary dialogue (Aretxaga, 2004; Vicuna and Serani-Merlo, 2004).