The so-called «new synthesis» of the theory of evolution has never had the least predictive power, but neither has any descriptive power, and like cosmology, it has been used mostly as a narrative complement for normative physical laws unable to connect with the real world and the real time in the most decisive sense.
To alleviate the evident limitations of a theory that only through phantasy can have some contact with natural forms —and let us not underestimate the power of fantasy in this instance-, evolution has been combined with the perspective of biological development (evo-devo), and even with ecology (eco-evo-devo), but even then it has not been possible to create a moderately unitary framework to describe problems such as the emergence, maturation, aging and death of organized beings.
There is no need to call all this by any other name than evolution without further ado, since the present theory has only taken over the name to deal with speculative and remote issues, rather than with close and fully approachable problems.
What determines the aging and death of individual organisms and societies? This is a real evolution problem that takes us closer to the real time.
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