The Fifth Level of Evolution

The theory of evolution is well established by scientific evidence, but it is far from explaining everything. Some puzzles remain pending whose resolution does not seem to be immediate: - The origin of life. We do not know how, when and where it happened. There are many theories, but none has been proven and it is very difficult to prove, because the origin of life, rather than a scientific fact, is a historical fact. It is not enough to reproduce it in the laboratory, it is necessary to find documentary evidence that this is how it happened and not otherwise. It is very likely that these tests cannot be found, because the paleontological traces of the origin of life have surely been lost.- The mystery of the level change. Throughout the history of life on Earth, living things have gone through several successive levels:1. The chemical evolution of proteins and nucleic acids, which could be considered the first level of life. Current viruses perhaps can be considered part of this level.2. The simplest cells (prokaryotes), bacteria and archaea, which constitute the second level of life.3. The most complex cells (eukaryotes), formed by the aggregation of many simpler cells (mitochondria and chloroplasts) within a larger cell, which belongs to the third level of life.4. Multicellular beings (plants, fungi and animals), formed by many eukaryotic cells (sometimes billions): the fourth level of life.5. The societies of multicellular beings (polypes, hives, anthill, termite mounds), which can be considered as incipient individuals of the fifth level of life. The theory of evolution does not currently have a valid explanation for the emergence of a new level. If natural selection seems to foster selfishness, the level change is a triumph of altruism: a non-cancerous cell of a multicellular being is willing to die, if the good of the individual of the higher level demands it. How can this happen in an environment that favors selfishness? Until now, the change in level has resulted in the renunciation of reproduction by the majority of the individuals of the lower level who come together to constitute a unique individual.- Is man just one animal? Many biologists say yes, but some argue that man should be considered rather as a kingdom. Are there critical points in evolution? Everything seems to indicate that one of these critical points has been crossed between chimpanzees and man. After all, man studies chimpanzees, chimpanzees do not study man. With Homo sapiens we have crossed the threshold of a new type of evolution, cultural evolution, which is carried out following rules similar to those of genetic evolution, but not always the same.- Does evolution have a direction? Again many biologists deny it, but reality goes against them. If we measure the amount of information available to each living being throughout the history of life, we can see a steady increase. This information was initially only genetic. In animals, a new way of storing it appeared, the nervous system. Finally, with man and only with man, cultural information appeared. Human society seems to be building, since a few decades, a new super-organism, in which the role of the nervous system is represented by the Internet. However, that nervous system has no head. Does that mean we are going towards the fifth level of evolution?The book "The fifth level of evolution" attempts to answer the last question and argues that the fifth level is not a modern idea, but has somehow been known for two thousand years.