That was my first thought too. Could it be applied to genetic algorithms? And from my quick review of the article, it seems definitely a yes. Genetic algorithms

That was my first thought too. Could it be applied to genetic algorithms? And from my quick review of the article, it seems definitely a yes. Genetic algorithms are asexual, so that's a check. The competitions just need to occur in pools with migration between the pools satisfying an amplifier pattern. Pretty exciting result, and I can't help but wonder if it will find its way into a number of fields.