Scott_Aaronson2 comments on Natural Selection's Speed Limit and Complexity Bound - Less Wrong

4 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 November 2007 04:54PM

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Comment author: Scott_Aaronson2 05 November 2007 08:39:55PM 0 points [-]

Remember, folks, evolution doesn't work for the good of the species, and there's no Evolution Fairy who tries to ensure its own continued freedom of action. It's just a statistical property of some genes winning out over others.

Right, but if the mutation rate for a given biochemistry is itself relatively immutable, then this might be a case where group selection actually works. In other words, one can imagine RNA, DNA, and other replicators fighting it out in the primordial soup, with the winning replicator being the one with the best mutation properties.