Agreed that given a process for achieving a goal that involves a comparator with that goal as a target, one can often start with a very fuzzy comparator (for example, “complex behavior”) and keep refining it as one goes. That’s especially true in cases where the costs of getting it not-quite-right the first time are low relative to the benefits of subsequently getting it righter… e.g., this strategy works a lot better for finding a good place to have dinner than it does for landing a plane. (Though given a bad enough initial comparator for the former, it can also be pretty catastrophic.)
I infer that you have a referent for ‘fitness’ other than whatever it is that gets selected for by evolution. I have no idea what that referent is.
I think it’s misleading to refer to evolution having a comparator at all. At best it’s true only metaphorically. As you say, all evolution acts on is the result of various competitions.
You seem to be implying that evolution necessarily results in extremely complex puzzle-inventing systems. If I’ve understood that correctly, I disagree.
A few things:
Agreed that given a process for achieving a goal that involves a comparator with that goal as a target, one can often start with a very fuzzy comparator (for example, “complex behavior”) and keep refining it as one goes. That’s especially true in cases where the costs of getting it not-quite-right the first time are low relative to the benefits of subsequently getting it righter… e.g., this strategy works a lot better for finding a good place to have dinner than it does for landing a plane. (Though given a bad enough initial comparator for the former, it can also be pretty catastrophic.)
I infer that you have a referent for ‘fitness’ other than whatever it is that gets selected for by evolution. I have no idea what that referent is.
I think it’s misleading to refer to evolution having a comparator at all. At best it’s true only metaphorically. As you say, all evolution acts on is the result of various competitions.
You seem to be implying that evolution necessarily results in extremely complex puzzle-inventing systems. If I’ve understood that correctly, I disagree.