3 ms·

What is the meaning of teleological evolution with goals?

dredmorbius 5y ago
Teleology is the study of final causes. https://www.etymonline.com/word/teleology https://www.etymonline.com/word/teleology In the context of evolution, it refers to the fact that there is no specific end-result or intent to evolution, no goal toward which it is developing. Rather, there is variation, selection, and inheritance. Each generation of a species is subject to a selection mechanism which determines the progenitors of the next. Fitness functions are local in time. Or put another way, though we might describe a parasite-host relations as "the parasite wants to evolve so that it coexists with rather than kills its host", the truth is that there's no such desire. There's only the evolutionary fact that parasites which do succeed too well in killing their hosts (before the parasite itself can reproduce or jump to a new host) will eventually kill itself. The evolutionary preference, that is, seletive mechanism, is for parasites that don't kill their hosts. How strong that selective pressure is depends greatly on the parasite, host, availability of alternative hosts (diseases in high-density populations can afford, evolutionarily, to be far more severe than those in low-density populations), options for dormant states, and the various strengths and weaknesses of other strains within the species as well as other competing species. (E.g., SARS-COV-2 triggered behavioural responses among humans which greatly reduced prevalences of influenza and common cold infections.) A corrolary to all this is that hosts and diseases co-evolve. This has been noted among humans and diseases affecting them, and in particular, the co-evolution of human civilisations and the diseases which emerge amongst them. Kyle Harper's The Fate of Rome explores this relation with regards to the Roman empire (and its contemporary empires and cultures). https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2019/2019.10.21/ https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2019/2019.10.21/

Teleology is the study of final causes. https://www.etymonline.com/word/teleology https://www.etymonline.com/word/teleology In the context of evolution, it refers to the fact that there is no specific end-result or intent to evolution, no goal toward which it is developing. Rather, there is variation, selection, and inheritance. Each generation of a species is subject to a selection mechanism which determines the progenitors of the next. Fitness functions are local in time. Or put another way, though we might describe a parasite-host relations as "the parasite wants to evolve so that it coexists with rather than kills its host", the truth is that there's no such desire. There's only the evolutionary fact that parasites which do succeed too well in killing their hosts (before the parasite itself can reproduce or jump to a new host) will eventually kill itself. The evolutionary preference, that is, seletive mechanism, is for parasites that don't kill their hosts. How strong that selective pressure is depends greatly on the parasite, host, availability of alternative hosts (diseases in high-density populations can afford, evolutionarily, to be far more severe than those in low-density populations), options for dormant states, and the various strengths and weaknesses of other strains within the species as well as other competing species. (E.g., SARS-COV-2 triggered behavioural responses among humans which greatly reduced prevalences of influenza and common cold infections.) A corrolary to all this is that hosts and diseases co-evolve. This has been noted among humans and diseases affecting them, and in particular, the co-evolution of human civilisations and the diseases which emerge amongst them. Kyle Harper's The Fate of Rome explores this relation with regards to the Roman empire (and its contemporary empires and cultures). https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2019/2019.10.21/ https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2019/2019.10.21/