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2017•Unpublished venueRequires access

The Origin and Maintenance of Sex

John Maynard Smith

Open publisher page 69 citations

Abstract

At the cellular level, sex is the opposite of reproduction; in reproduction one cell divides into two, whereas it is the essence of the sexual process that two cells should fuse to form one. In this essay I shall ask what selective forces were responsible for the origin of the sexual process, and by what selective process is it maintained. It is easier to ask these questions than to answer them; the fact that we cannot answer them with confidence is a challenge to evolution theory.

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What this paper is about

At the cellular level, sex is the opposite of reproduction; in reproduction one cell divides into two, whereas it is the essence of the sexual process that two cells should fuse to form one. In this essay I shall ask what selective forces were responsible for the origin of the sexual process, and by what selective process is it maintained. It is easier to ask these questions than to answer them; the fact that we cannot answer them with confidence is a challenge to evolution theory.

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OpenAlex reports 69 citations for this work. Citation counts describe recorded attention and do not establish research quality.

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Available abstract

At the cellular level, sex is the opposite of reproduction; in reproduction one cell divides into two, whereas it is the essence of the sexual process that two cells should fuse to form one. In this essay I shall ask what selective forces were responsible for the origin of the sexual process, and by what selective process is it maintained. It is easier to ask these questions than to answer them; the fact that we cannot answer them with confidence is a challenge to evolution theory.

Key concepts: Computer science

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