| ▲ | heavyset_go 3 days ago | |
> Also, evolution itself is constantly optimizing organisms to best adapt to their environment, just like a computation. There is no optimization, if organisms can reproduce, they'll continue to exist. That does not mean they are the "best adapted" or on a trajectory toward better adaptation. It's entirely possible for a germ line to become less fit over time, even to the point of extinction, and that's still evolution. Time has shown that is the case for most germ lines. | ||
| ▲ | nomel 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | |
> Time has shown that is the case for most germ lines. This is true, but that sure seems unfair. ;) You have multiple competing systems, in the case of a germ. The system that human related germs are competing with is around 30 trillion times the size, with the advantage of some fairly incredible emergent properties that come from that. The germ is evolving, but in a system that completely overwhelms it, with evolved tricks to specifically force the germ along the "unhappy path" of evolution. | ||
| ▲ | karmakurtisaani 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | |
Also many numerical algorithms can fail when step size is not suited for their "environment", so I don't see why that should mean much. | ||