Think of Dawkins what you will but he is undoubtedly a master of metaphor and climbing mount improbable is one of his best. It counters the well known creationist metaphor of Paley's watch. Namely, that life, much like an intricate pocket watch, is too complex to have come about by chance. Life, like the watch, Paley argued, necessitates a designer.
One metaphor for evolution is of an N-dimensional adaptive landscape. Any mutation moves a species through the landscape. If a mutation improves a individuals' competitive ability it will rise higher. If it decreases its competitive ability, it will fall lower. Over time, those individuals 'higher' up the landscape and therefore better adapted are favoured by evolution - perhaps imagine a flood drowning those lower down - until, millions of years later, every surviving species towers over the landscape upon its own mount improbable.
Paley viewed the ascent of mount improbable as impossible without the conscious hand of a designer, God, placing each species on the top. Evolution ignores the height and cliffs of mount improbable, simply, slowly, and blindly climbing around the back.
Evolution does not have a goal - it is a mindless algorithm favouring better adapted individuals - but I do. Sometimes, becoming a wildlife photographer seems as remote a possibility as climbing my own mount improbable. My adaptive landscape contains peaks dominated by the giants of the business and each seems very remote.
My challenge, like anyone else's, is to doggedly fight my way around the landscape rejecting less successful ventures and accepting more profitable ones. It is not to waste time finding a non-existent magic bullet ride to the top nor to follow someone successful else up their peak. Hopefully, in this way, I will eventually find myself blinking in the light on a deserted peak with a view to die for.
Oh and, in case you had not guessed, one of my new years resolutions is to blog more frequently.
Hi Peter,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog post but can I just ask:
Is evolution an algorithm?
All the best
Hi Lee,
ReplyDeleteGood question!
Evolution is not normally taught as an algorithm and I did not think of it as one until I read Dan Dennet's book "Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life." A very good book if you are interested!
As I understand it, an algorithm is a process that solves problems through the repetition of a series of steps. This might not be a mathematician's definition though!
Evolution definitely works through the blind repetition of a few steps:
1) Random generation of variation
2) The greater probability of survival of useful variation
3) The greater probability of reproduction of useful variation
I suppose you could say that, as an algorithm, evolution works towards a perfect sequence of DNA that succeeds in its own replication 100% of the time. Unfortunately, in a constantly changing environment where resources are limited, this goal is impossible.
I hope that makes it clear.
Best wishes