Curated. Just discussed this with Oli a bunch. Some reasons for curation:
High quality book reviews are very valuable and a key step in being able to interface with expertise in other communities and fields.
Biology is a field that is a major blindspot on LessWrong, where most of us have relatively little expertise. One reason for this is that we take a very reductionistic approach to understanding the world, and biology often seems very messy and unprincipled. This post really shocked me with the level of principle that apparently can be found in such systems. Not only were things that seemed like wasted energy actually useful, and not only were they useful in ways common to a wide variety of biological systems, but their use is to enforce abstractions so that the whole system becomes more reliable and easier for us to model. This is quite something. I hope others here on LW who look into biology are able to build on this.
Excellent post, looking forward to further on this topic.
This post really shocked me with the level of principle that apparently can be found in such systems.
If you’re interested in this theme, I recommend reading up on convergent evolution, which I find really fascinating. Here’s Dawkins in The Blind Watchmaker:
The primitive mammals that happened to be around in the three areas [of Australia, South America and the Old World] when the dinosaurs more or less simultaneously vacated the great life trades, were all rather small and insignificant, probably nocturnal, previously overshadowed and overpowered by the dinosaurs. They could have evolved in radically different directions in the three areas. To some extent this is what happened. … But although the separate continents each produced their unique mammals, the general pattern of evolution in all three areas was the same. In all three areas the mammals that happened to be around at the start fanned out in evolution, and produced a specialist for each trade which, in many cases, came to bear a remarkable resemblance to the corresponding specialist in the other two areas.
Dawkins goes on to describe the many ways in which marsupials in Australia, placentals in the Old World, and a mix of both in South America underwent convergent evolution to fill similar roles in their ecosystems. Some examples are very striking: separate evolutions of moles, anteaters, army ants, etc.
Curated. Just discussed this with Oli a bunch. Some reasons for curation:
High quality book reviews are very valuable and a key step in being able to interface with expertise in other communities and fields.
Biology is a field that is a major blindspot on LessWrong, where most of us have relatively little expertise. One reason for this is that we take a very reductionistic approach to understanding the world, and biology often seems very messy and unprincipled. This post really shocked me with the level of principle that apparently can be found in such systems. Not only were things that seemed like wasted energy actually useful, and not only were they useful in ways common to a wide variety of biological systems, but their use is to enforce abstractions so that the whole system becomes more reliable and easier for us to model. This is quite something. I hope others here on LW who look into biology are able to build on this.
Excellent post, looking forward to further on this topic.
If you’re interested in this theme, I recommend reading up on convergent evolution, which I find really fascinating. Here’s Dawkins in The Blind Watchmaker:
Dawkins goes on to describe the many ways in which marsupials in Australia, placentals in the Old World, and a mix of both in South America underwent convergent evolution to fill similar roles in their ecosystems. Some examples are very striking: separate evolutions of moles, anteaters, army ants, etc.
I’m also working my way through Jonathan Losos’ Improbable Destinies now, which isn’t bad but a bit pop-sciencey. For more detail, Losos mentions https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/convergent-evolution and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifes-Solution-Inevitable-Humans-Universe/dp/0521603250.