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The Fifth Level of Evolution
The theory of evolution is well established by scientific evidence, but it is far from explaining everything. Some puzzles are still pending, whose resolution does not seem to be immediate:
- The origin of life. We don't know how, when and where it happened. There are many theories, but none has been proven. The origin of life, rather than a scientific fact, is a historical fact. It wouldn't be enough to reproduce it in the laboratory, it's necessary to find documentary evidence that this is how it happened and not otherwise. 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 change in level. 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. Societies of multicellular beings (polyps, hives, anthills, 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. Natural selection seems to foster selfishness, but a change in level 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 apes and man. After all, man studies chimpanzees, chimpanzees don't 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.
- The origin of life. We don't know how, when and where it happened. There are many theories, but none has been proven. The origin of life, rather than a scientific fact, is a historical fact. It wouldn't be enough to reproduce it in the laboratory, it's necessary to find documentary evidence that this is how it happened and not otherwise. 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 change in level. 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. Societies of multicellular beings (polyps, hives, anthills, 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. Natural selection seems to foster selfishness, but a change in level 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 apes and man. After all, man studies chimpanzees, chimpanzees don't 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.
300 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 29, 2014
22 people want to read
About the author
Manuel Alfonseca
80 books214 followersManuel Alfonseca (Madrid, 1946) is a writer and professor in a Spanish university (Autónoma de Madrid) where he was director of the Escuela Politécnica Superior (2001-2004). He worked 22 years in IBM. He has published over 200 scientific articles and many papers and posts on popular science, in Spanish and English. He is the author of over 50 books on computer science, popular science, historic novel, science-fiction and young adult literature, published in Spanish, English, French and other languages. He was awarded the Lazarillo Award (1988) and the La Brújula Award (2012). He is the son of the painter and sculptor Manuel Alfonseca (Santana).
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 15, 2014
Engancha desde el principio, ilustrativo e inspirador
Soy una gran aficionada a la divulgación científica y en concreto a la evolución y la selección natural. “El quinto nivel” me enganchó desde el principio y me sorprendió muy gratamente. Explica de manera muy amena y clara los estadios pasados de la evolución, para luego profundizar en los distintos niveles que se han ido alcanzando en relación con la cooperación entre individuos. Aporta una visión diferente de la evolución y te hace reflexionar sobre nuestra herencia genética y las posibles direcciones que ésta puede seguir, centrándose en el ser humano.
Desde que lo leí no puedo evitar pensar en el efecto de las redes sociales y otros mecanismos actuales que nos hacen actuar (al menos mirándolo desde un punto de vista general) como células de otro organismo mucho más grande. Es como cuando has visto un patrón en uno de estos dibujos en los que tienes que desenfocar la vista. ¡Una vez que lo has visto no puedes no distinguirlo!
Soy una gran aficionada a la divulgación científica y en concreto a la evolución y la selección natural. “El quinto nivel” me enganchó desde el principio y me sorprendió muy gratamente. Explica de manera muy amena y clara los estadios pasados de la evolución, para luego profundizar en los distintos niveles que se han ido alcanzando en relación con la cooperación entre individuos. Aporta una visión diferente de la evolución y te hace reflexionar sobre nuestra herencia genética y las posibles direcciones que ésta puede seguir, centrándose en el ser humano.
Desde que lo leí no puedo evitar pensar en el efecto de las redes sociales y otros mecanismos actuales que nos hacen actuar (al menos mirándolo desde un punto de vista general) como células de otro organismo mucho más grande. Es como cuando has visto un patrón en uno de estos dibujos en los que tienes que desenfocar la vista. ¡Una vez que lo has visto no puedes no distinguirlo!
June 30, 2025
Español: Impresionante obra, como es costumbre, de Manuel Alfonseca. Destaco 3 puntos:
1) La amplísima documentación de la misma, especialmente en biología en este caso, pero en general en todos los ámbitos del saber. El punto de la biología es importante porque aquellos que hemos confinado los escasos conocimientos que poseíamos de la misma a lo más recóndito del cerebro podemos encontrar en la obra un recordatorio de los mismos.
2) Lo entretenido que resulta leer el libro y la gran actualidad de los temas tratados en ciertos capítulos, como el de los problemas éticos que irían aparejados a controlar nuestra evolución.
3) La honradez intelectual del autor.
English: Impressive work, as usual, by Manuel Alfonseca. I would like to highlight 3 points:
1) The very extensive documentation in it, especially in biology in this case, but in general in all fields of knowledge. The point about biology is important because those of us who have confined the little knowledge we had of it to the innermost recesses of the brain can find in this work a reminder of it.
2) How entertaining it is to read the book and how topical the subjects dealt with in certain chapters are, such as the ethical problems that would go hand in hand with controlling our evolution.
3) The intellectual honesty of the author.
1) La amplísima documentación de la misma, especialmente en biología en este caso, pero en general en todos los ámbitos del saber. El punto de la biología es importante porque aquellos que hemos confinado los escasos conocimientos que poseíamos de la misma a lo más recóndito del cerebro podemos encontrar en la obra un recordatorio de los mismos.
2) Lo entretenido que resulta leer el libro y la gran actualidad de los temas tratados en ciertos capítulos, como el de los problemas éticos que irían aparejados a controlar nuestra evolución.
3) La honradez intelectual del autor.
English: Impressive work, as usual, by Manuel Alfonseca. I would like to highlight 3 points:
1) The very extensive documentation in it, especially in biology in this case, but in general in all fields of knowledge. The point about biology is important because those of us who have confined the little knowledge we had of it to the innermost recesses of the brain can find in this work a reminder of it.
2) How entertaining it is to read the book and how topical the subjects dealt with in certain chapters are, such as the ethical problems that would go hand in hand with controlling our evolution.
3) The intellectual honesty of the author.
July 4, 2025
This book gives a clearly explained overview of the formation of the universe, galaxies and our solar system; of the aparition of life on earth and its evolution from nucleic acids to cells to pluricellular beings; and finally of the aparition of humans and their cultural evolution. Along the way, it tells the history of each significant scientific discovery, with a detailed chapter about genetic engineering and its possible use for humans to direct their own evolution. The last few chapters explore what are the likely characteristics of the next step in evolution, and how it has been presented in literature and religions, in particular in Christianity.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews