(January 20, 2017 at 5:50 am)Pulse Wrote: Despite the appealing similarities of terms like “chromosomes”, GAs have no relevance whatsoever to molecular evolution or gene emergence. Inanimate nature cannot define a fitness function over measures of the quality of representations of solutions. GAs are no model at all of natural process. GAs are nothing more than multiple layers of abstract conceptual engineering. Like language, we may start with a random phase space of alphabetical symbols. But no meaning or function results without deliberate and purposeful selection of letters out of that random phase space.
I admit I have only skimmed through your discussion on GAs, but it seems to touch the usual conundrum of a structure which must appear fully formed, or else it could never have formed at all, which hints at a designer.
Like a roman bridge, where you may place any stone of the arc randomly and it will most definitely fall.... it only becomes a bridge when all stones are in place and pressing against each other.
So... how did the Romans build bridges, if they couldn't set stones and expect them to remain where they put them?
The answer is obviously Scaffolding.
Structures that are absent after the fact. Structures that can be built from the ground up to aid in building the more resilient final structure.
