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Trying to track down a quote about evolution

2 Post author: erniebornheimer 05 February 2011 12:37AM

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this question. If not please suggest a better.

I came across a great quote about evolution a while back. I thought I grabbed it, but now can't find it anywhere (including searching LW and the Web).

I seem to recall it was on LW and was by Eleizer, but I'm not sure.

It went something like: "Bodies (organisms) are not the meaningful units of evolution. They come and go, like evanescent wisps of smoke.  What endures, what persists, are alleles." And I think there was some mention of competition between two animals...the image of two mountain goats butting heads sticks in my mind, but I may be conflating with something else.

Does this ring a bell with anyone? Thank you!

Ernie

 

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Comments (2)

Comments (2)

Comment author: Zack_M_Davis 05 February 2011 12:59:54AM 14 points [-]

You may be thinking of this passage from "Evolving to Extinction":

The real struggle in natural selection is not the competition of organisms for resources; this is an ephemeral thing when all the participants will vanish in another generation. The real struggle is the competition of alleles for frequency in the gene pool. This is the lasting consequence that creates lasting information. The two rams bellowing and locking horns are only passing shadows.

Best wishes, the Less Wrong Reference Desk.

Comment author: erniebornheimer 16 February 2011 01:58:48AM 0 points [-]

Yes, that's it! Thank you!

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