Re: Minimization principal for evolution
- From: "Perplexed in Peoria" <jimmenegay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 11:42:42 -0500 (EST)
"Don" <Don.Steiger@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:dsp9a7$2r06$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From my intuitive understanding of physics it would seem to me thatevolution should satisfy some sort of minimization principal (e.g.
energy minimization). Has anybody ever come across such a principal?
For evolution as a whole: No (where 'evolution' is defined to include
all causes of gene frequency change, including mutation and drift).
For just Natural Selection as a cause of evolution, there is a
maximization principle. In many situations, natural selection acts
so as to maximize the average 'fitness' of the population. Fitness
can loosely be defined as the ability to survive and produce offspring.
For a more careful definition and a proof that fitness is maximized,
see any textbook on population genetics.
However, the proof of this theorem makes some assumptions that are
not necessarily true in the real world. So those same textbooks will
present counter-examples to this 'theorem' - situations in which
natural selection can actually act to decrease average fitness.
Furthermore, even when fitness maximization works, it doesn't necessarily
mean what you think it does. Although the average member of the
population gets better at reproducing in some sense, so do all of
his competitors. As a result, the average number of surviving
offspring pretty much stays constant long term.
.
- References:
- Minimization principal for evolution
- From: Don
- Minimization principal for evolution
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