In conventional biological thought, genes are the only hereditary material and therefore the only player in evolution; it is from chance genetic variations that nature selects in the evolutionary process. There is no room for any contribution to evolution from the acts of living. The prejudice of the central dogma of biology—information can only flow from the genes to proteins not the other way around—prohibits that.
And yet the fossil data shows repeated evidence that the same biological forms repeat again and again as evolution proceeds. These forms, in other words, are remembered in some way; some kind of Lamarckian mechanism prevails. So, there must be a side door through which development can enter the discussion of evolution; we must use the side door without challenging the central dogma which is supported by experimental data.