Re: Minimization principal for evolution

Don wrote:

I should have been more explicit in my original question. By a
minimization principal I mean in the sense of calculus; i.e. given a
function f the local minima occur when the derivative of the function
is zero. The specific minimization principal that I was thinking about
is potential energy minimization. This is physically very fundamental,
and applies to all physical processes. You can think of the potential
energy function, of a physical system, as a hyperdimensional surface
composed of hills (unstable states), valleys (stable states), and
mountain passes that connect the valleys. Evolution, to me, is a
process that moves a physical system from one valley (stable state) to
another valley by finding the mountain passes. Is this a perspective
that has been taken by anybody?



Evolution finds the local *maximum* (not *minimum*) of a population of
organisms on a hyperdimensional fitness surface. It doesn't move from
one valley to another, it climbs to the top of the nearest peak. The
fitness surface idea has been around since the days of R.A. Fisher and
Sewall Wright -- 60 years or more.


http://bioweb.wku.edu/courses/Biol430/430lects13.htm


--dkomo@xxxxxxxx


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