Abstract
Evolution is sometimes pictured in terms of hill climbing on an adaptive landscape (Wright, 1932), therefore as an optimization process. This imagery certainly should be treated with certain cautions—for one never knows the structure of the landscape, there is difficulty saying in general what precisely is to be optimized (i.e. it is difficult to define fitness), and it is possible that optima, even accessible optima, are never reached. However, there can hardly be any doubt that the mechanism of evolution through variation and natural selection potentially subserves an optimization process in some very general sense, that even if the products of evolution are not actually optimal they are qualitatively the most sophisticated forms in nature, and that the imagery of the adaptive landscape has been scientifically fruitful.
This paper is dedicated to the memory of Ernst Pfaffelhuber, both in tribute to his contributions to physics to physics, information theory, and biology and in rememberance of many stimulating conversations and perceptive suggestions.
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Conrad, M. (1978). Evolution of the Adaptive Landscape. In: Heim, R., Palm, G. (eds) Theoretical Approaches to Complex Systems. Lecture Notes in Biomathematics, vol 21. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-93083-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-93083-6_8
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