Re: A question of timing

Perplexed in Peoria wrote:
>
> Interesting question. I will attempt two different answers, each of
> which interprets your question slightly differently.

Thanks for providing hooks to hang these ideas onto. These are
particularly helpful for an outsider like me.

>
> First, neo-Darwinian evolution (based on genes) is inherently slower
> than cultural evolution (based on memes). Genes can only be passed to
> offspring and there is a limit to the number of offspring one organism
> can have. It takes time for a gene to spread in a population - a
> time proportional to the logarithm of the population size. The time
> is also proportional to the selection coefficient - the number which
> measures just how advantageous this innovation is. So neo-Darwinian
> evolution takes place on a minimal time scale of hundreds or thousands
> of organism generations.
>
> However, this is still pretty fast - potentially much faster than is
> suggested by the fossil record, though slower than cultural evolution.
> So, apparently, evolution moves slower than it theoretically could, based
> solely on population genetics arguments. Why so slow? Well, it could
> be that most evolutionary change is the result of mutations with very
> small selection coefficients. Or it could be that the mechanism of
> mutation simply takes a long time to generate new advantageous variations
> upon which selection can work.

Thanks for the answer. It sounds like Darwinian evolution is not, in
principle, dependent on a time factor.

.

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