Biology

If a system allows the following, Darwinian evolution will occur. Random mutation. Differential survival and Darwinian selection (of mutations that enhance fitness). Heritability (that is, the passing down of mutations to the next generation). We are familiar with such evolution happening in the biological substrate. But there is no reason this should just remain within the confines of biology. Ideas can undergo such a Darwinian evolution process too (think of memes). Languages are subject to such processes (1. the “asexual” case where a language slowly mutates over time in the language space over a geographical region, and 2. the “sexual” case, where civilizations interact, exchanging ideas, incorporating foreign words, undergoing changes in pronunciation, etc.) AI should be able to undergo such processes in the silicon layer. Perhaps the laws of physics are also subject to Darwinian evolution at some level, with fitness functions applying to entire universes.

Antagonistic Pleiotropy (AP) is an evolutionary theory that explains why evolution does not weed out certain mutations that cause harm to an organism later in life. According to AP, these mutations provide other significant fitness advantages earlier in life, thus exerting positive selection pressure; the negative effects manifest after the organism has reproduced. The process of ageing/senescence is explained by this phenomenon. Some other examples of AP in genetics are as follows. ...