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I suppose I fail to see why evolution through natural selection is not optimizing. That was Darwin's big idea, right? That given heredity, selection, and variat
by nathan_douglas 1y ago
I suppose I fail to see why evolution through natural selection is not optimizing. That was Darwin's big idea, right? That given heredity, selection, and variation you end up with life forms we'd consider optimized for their environments?
Or do you mean that optimization by definition must include intent, and evolution as a mindless process has no intentionality?
I'm just not sure what you're driving at.
- robotresearcher 1y agoOptimization is by definition with respect to some cost function or goal. Evolution has none. Evolution happens, but has no goal.
- nathan_douglas 1y agoAh! That makes sense. Thank you for explaining!
- davidkwast 1y agoThe goal is to accelerate Entropy
- emmelaich 1y agoI would say the goal is survival. Which happens at the cell/dna.. level (mostly) not the organism. (nod to Dawkins)
- the_af 1y agoEvolution has no goals, not even survival. Evolution is something that happens. Some species survive for a while, others don't. Think of it like saying water has the goal of flowing down the mountain along the path of least resistance. Of course it doesn't, it's just something that happens. There's no goal.
- emmelaich 1y agoPerhaps it's an over-anthrophormic term.
- moi2388 1y agoThat’s the claim. But are we sure about that? I certainly have a goal when selecting my partner and creating my offspring; at the very least that they’re happy and healthy.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]