Evolution by natural selection: Difference between revisions

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 ===Observations on the evolutionary process===
-*It is '''algorithmic''': it is suitable — ''ideal'' — for use by a [[Turing machine]].
+*It is '''algorithmic''': it is suitable in concept for use by a [[Turing machine]].
-*It is '''profoundly stupid''': It requires no insight, intelligence, imagination or creative power. ''Also'' ideal for use by a [[Turing machine]]. Therefore:
+*It is '''profoundly stupid''': It requires no insight, intelligence or imagination. ''Also'' ideal for use by a [[Turing machine]]. Therefore:
 **No educated guesses based on acquired assumptions about the environment, the prevailing physical laws of the universe etc.
 **No retrospective correction of successful variations which, on subsequent adaptations, turn out to be  constraints or design flaws.
-*It is '''profoundly wasteful''': It requires trial and error, but because it is stupid, it is entirely unsupported by intelligent insight. It has no ability to hypothesise that variation x will be more successful than variation y, and therefore opt for variation x;
+*It is '''profoundly wasteful''': It requires trial and error, but because it is stupid, it is entirely unsupported by intelligent insight. It cannot hypothesise that variation x will be more successful than variation y, and so opt for variation x;
-*It is '''profoundly contingent''': each replicator’s fitness depends on a dynamic environment that may or may not be changing. The environment comprises, and is therefore affected by:
+*It is '''profoundly contingent''': what counts as “fitness” depends on a changing environment comprising:
-**the organism itself
+:(a) the organism itself;
-**all other organisms in the biosphere (which themselves are evolving),
+:(b) all other (evolving) organisms in the biosphere; and
-**prevailing macro-environmental conditions:
+:(c) changing climate, whether through:
-***Those created by organisms in the biosphere (their use of resources, their competition with each other, their impact on climate),
+::(i) normal environmental fluctuations (weather, seasonal change, viruses);
-***Prevailing normal fluctuations of the environmental conditions (weather, seasonal change, viruses)
+::(ii) evolving organisms consuming resources and competing with each other; or
-***Extraordinary events (earthquakes, volcanoes, meteorites etc)
+::(iii) extraordinary climactic events (earthquakes, volcanoes, meteorites, invasions of “aliens”).
-*It is '''profoundly inefficient''': the iterative (and un-insightful) nature of evolutionary design means that layering work-arounds over earlier design flaws, meaning no economy of design. An earlier design flaw that is critical will lead to extinction. A non-critical design-flaw may be
+*It is '''profoundly inefficient''': the iterative nature of the evolutionary process is highly unlikely to produce design economy: Each new adaptation depends on, and is layered on top of, all earlier adaptations. The more more recent an adaptation is, the more susceptible it is to successful mutation. Mutations in basic characteristics on which a lot of subsequent bio-engineering depends are likely to be catastrophic. A design flaw that is critical will lead to extinction. A non-critical design-flaw may be that layering work-arounds over earlier design flaws, meaning
 *It is [[survivor bias]] writ large