Tim_Tyler comments on Adaptation-Executers, not Fitness-Maximizers - Less Wrong

42 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 11 November 2007 06:39AM

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Comment author: Tim_Tyler 07 March 2008 03:59:59PM 0 points [-]

Re: "Individual organisms are best thought of as adaptation-executers rather than as fitness-maximizers".

It's a bit like saying deep blue is an instruction executor, not an expected chess position utility maximizer.

The statement muddles up the "why" and "how" levels of explanation.

Executing instructions are *how* chess programs go about maximizing expected chess position utility.

Of course organisms cannot necessarily maximise their fitnesses - rather they attempt to maximise their *expected* fitness, just like other expected utility maximisers.

Tooby and Cosmides go on to argue the even more confused thesis:

"[Goals such as "maximize your fitness" or "have as many offspring as possible"] are probably impossible to instantiate in any computational system."