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There's nothing contradictory about using teleological language to describe evolution. Evolution is an algorithm that maximizes fitness in a changing environmen
by canjobear 5y ago
There's nothing contradictory about using teleological language to describe evolution. Evolution is an algorithm that maximizes fitness in a changing environment over time. It does things "in order to" maximize fitness in the same way that you or a robot might do things "in order to" maximize utility.
- t-writescode 5y agoEvolution is an algorithm that carries on traits that happened to be carried along when someone successfully mated. It speaks nothing of ‘fitness’ in any useful sense beyond ‘was successful at mating’. It _tends_ to yield things that correlate well with survivability to time of mating; but to imply anything of intent to it is inaccurate and ascribing purpose where there is none in this model.
- canjobear 5y ago> It speaks nothing of ‘fitness’ in any useful sense beyond ‘was successful at mating’. That's the definition of fitness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_equation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_equation
- t-writescode 5y agoAnd yet this still speaks nothing to the 'purpose' implied by so many. Even the article says it's a statistical reality and nothing more.
- canjobear 5y agoSimilarly your brain acts in ways that are correlated with things like dopamine release. If you analyze it at the level of interacting atoms, you won’t see anything like “purpose” or intentionality there. The idea of intention is something that only emerges after some abstraction. It’s just as much a metaphor when applied to humans as when applied to evolution, and just as valid.
- t-writescode 5y agoThat's like calling love exclusively a response to a chemical reactions, and I don't think the broad audience believes in that way when using the word 'love'.