3 Components of Darwinian Systems

Chris OConnor · Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:36 am

While reading an article entitled "A brief history of intelligence" by Frank Vertosick, Jr. in last months edition of the Mensa Bulletin I found something he said worth sharing. Frank worded this differently than I have ever heard so let me know what you think. He described the 3 required components to Darwinian systems as:

1. a noise source to generate a diverse library of possible solutions to any given problem (genetic mutations)
2. a competitive ecosystem in which the noisy library of solutions can compete to solve a problem by "surviving"
3. a virtual storage system to save symbolic representations of correct solutions for future implementation

Is that gorgeous or what?

geo · Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:51 pm


	Chris OConnor wrote: While reading an article entitled "A brief history of intelligence" by Frank Vertosick, Jr. in last months edition of the Mensa Bulletin I found something he said worth sharing. Frank worded this differently than I have ever heard so let me know what you think. He described the 3 required components to Darwinian systems as: 1. a noise source to generate a diverse library of possible solutions to any given problem (genetic mutations) 2. a competitive ecosystem in which the noisy library of solutions can compete to solve a problem by "surviving" 3. a virtual storage system to save symbolic representations of correct solutions for future implementation Is that gorgeous or what?

That's interesting. I'm wondering about #3. I'm assuming he's referring to methods of duplication, such as RNA or DNA. Why is it a "virtual" storage system and "symbolic" representations?

I saw this somewhere and saved it to my computer. Unfortunately, I forgot who said and can't credit the person.

Envisioning evolution

Release a bunch of pebbles at the top of a ramp. The ones who make it to the bottom, without getting stuck or falling off the side, will inevitably be the more round ones. Voila, natural selection.

Now take the "fittest" pebbles (those at the bottom of the ramp), and release them at the top again. Repeated iterations will cause the pebbles to wear down and thereby slightly change shape. Some will become a bit more round, others a bit less. Voila, mutation.

The most round pebbles will consistently make it down the ramp, while the others at some point will not. Voila, evolution. It's really no mystery, it's a tautology.

If you repeat this for billions of years, you'll have perfect spheres, and wonder how those could have possibly occurred by random chance.

ant · Wed Jan 04, 2012 3:31 pm


	Quote: Release a bunch of pebbles at the top of a ramp. The ones who make it to the bottom, without getting stuck or falling off the side, will inevitably be the more round ones. Voila, natural selection. Now take the "fittest" pebbles (those at the bottom of the ramp), and release them at the top again. Repeated iterations will cause the pebbles to wear down and thereby slightly change shape. Some will become a bit more round, others a bit less. Voila, mutation. The most round pebbles will consistently make it down the ramp, while the others at some point will not. Voila, evolution. It's really no mystery, it's a tautology. If you repeat this for billions of years, you'll have perfect spheres, and wonder how those could have possibly occurred by random chance.

Tis an interesting analogy.

I'm wondering where both syntactic and semantic information originates from.
The process is outlined nicely. And I don't doubt that billions of years is enough time for the process to achieve the correct sequences of the most advantageous events to occur. But nevertheless.., I can't help but wonder.

johnson1010 · Wed Jan 04, 2012 4:46 pm


	Quote: Why is it a "virtual" storage system and "symbolic" representations?

i took this to be ways to model our own selective processes in the way that evolution is modeled.

So, "match some selective process against these three items and see if they are darwinian", is the thrust of it, i think.

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