I think that a subset of Fly’s objections may be valid, especially the ones about sexual selection concentrating harmful mutations in a small subset of the population. This could plausibly increase the number of bits by a significant factor. OTOH, 25M is an upper bound, so the actual number of bits could easily still be less.
Great point about evolution not discovering hierarchical error-correcting code Scott A. Chris Phoenix frequently makes similar points about molecular nanotechnology in response to its critics.
Regarding the earlier posts point about evolution not being able to extrapolate the fitness benefits of a gene and save time in it’s penetration into a population, I will point out that in financial markets this ability is what creates bubbles. In evolutionary dynamics it can potentially produce runaway sexual selection, which is sort of like a bubble that never resolves itself in a price correction.
I think that a subset of Fly’s objections may be valid, especially the ones about sexual selection concentrating harmful mutations in a small subset of the population. This could plausibly increase the number of bits by a significant factor. OTOH, 25M is an upper bound, so the actual number of bits could easily still be less.
Great point about evolution not discovering hierarchical error-correcting code Scott A. Chris Phoenix frequently makes similar points about molecular nanotechnology in response to its critics.
Regarding the earlier posts point about evolution not being able to extrapolate the fitness benefits of a gene and save time in it’s penetration into a population, I will point out that in financial markets this ability is what creates bubbles. In evolutionary dynamics it can potentially produce runaway sexual selection, which is sort of like a bubble that never resolves itself in a price correction.