Biological Morphology and Evolutionary Biology, specifically regarding how physical forms are encoded, regulated, and mutated at the cellular level.
1. The "Memory" of Form
They believe that the morphology of a living organism is not just a result of immediate genetic instructions, but a form of biological memory. Brash and Ashby (often cited in discussions involving the "Good Regulator" theorem) suggest that for a system to maintain its form, it must contain a "model" of its environment and itself.
Douglas Brash specifically focuses on how forms change over time through genetic assimilation. This is the idea that a "form" or trait that is initially triggered by the environment can, over many generations, become "hard-wired" into the DNA. In this view:
* Forms are flexible and responsive to the environment first.
* Genetics eventually "catches up" to lock that form into place.
3. Structural Distortion (The DNA Helix)
In a very literal morphological sense, Brash's work revolves around how external forces (like UV light) physically distort the form of the DNA helix. He studies how these physical "kinks" or changes in the geometry of the molecule lead to mutations, which ultimately change the morphology of tissues (such as the development of skin cancer).
4. Cybernetic Systems (Ashby’s Influence)
W. Ross Ashby, whose work often intersects with these biological discussions, believed that form is a result of stability. In his view, the morphology of any system (whether a city, a machine, or a cell) is the state the system "settles into" to remain stable against environmental disturbances. This is often called the Law of Requisite Variety.
5. Selection Pressures vs. Mutation
Brash and his contemporaries often argue that the "expansion" of certain forms (like mutant cell clones) is driven more by selection pressures (the environment favoring one shape/form over another) than by the random arrival of new mutations.
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