Well, it seems to open up to a wide variety of probably both feasible and infeasible mechanisms. I think for small changes to have large effects there needs to be developmental process, i.e. a form of feedback of some sort. There are a *great* many possible means of establishing process feedback. That that mechanism, having results stimulate causes, has been ruled out of evolution theory for over a century seems to me to indicate a lack of imagination.
Phil Henshaw ¸¸¸¸.·´ ¯ `·.¸¸¸¸ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 680 Ft. Washington Ave NY NY 10040 tel: 212-795-4844 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] explorations: www.synapse9.com > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jochen Fromm > Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 6:59 AM > To: 'The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group' > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Rugged fitness landscapes > > > > Yes, his work contains interesting ideas. I especially > like the appealing idea of correlating interdependencies > in the genotype with the ruggedness of fitness landscapes, > although it is probably to simple. Are interdependencies > between modules in the genotypes a reason why small changes > in the genotype could have large effects on reproduction > rates ? It seems plausible, but hard to prove. > > The fitness function depends in general on the > success of the phenotype (reproduction rates), and the > relationship between genotype and phenotype is very > complex and non-linear. The fitness of a phenotype > is easy to determine, but hard to calculate from the > genotype. This is similar to NP-complete problems: > the quality of a solution is easy to verify, but the > solution itself is hard to calculate. Therefore it is > probably hard to say how rugged the fitness landscape is > dependent on changes in the genotype, because the fitness > is an unpredictable emergent property of the whole system, > including the environment. > > One recent concept in this area seems to be "Epistasis" > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistasis > > Epistasis and Shapes > of Fitness Landscapes http://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio.PE/0603034 > > -J. > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
