> Kenneth Boyd,
>=20
> ; > > *=A0Experiements in artifical evolution show that selecting
> ; > > "less fit" individuals is often useful. One such method is
> ; > > called "Tournament Selection", there are several others. In
> ; > > fact, to make selection work as Dawkin's explains it one
> ; > > must use a special type of selection known as "Elitism".
> ; > > This type of selection often keeps the same individuals alive
> ; > > one generation after another, a process that is not and cannot
> ; > > be duplicated in nature.
> ; >
> ; > Actually elitism does exist in nature. It is called cloning.
> ; > There even exists a species of fresh-water snail that uses
> ; > cloning in good times, and sexual reproduction in tough times.
> ;=20
> ; The Ultimate Elitist Plant:
> ; I don't quite remember its exact name, but it rated an entire
> ; article in
> ; a 1995/1996 Scientific American. It's aquatic, it's spread over 6
> ; continent's worth of rivers/coastlines: and it has no sex. It's ONLY
> ; method of reproduction is cloning. Coincidentally, it was being
> ; studied
> ; for analogies to how muscle grows in animals.
>=20
> This example (and another presented by David McF, and all the others
> where beings reproduce in some non-cross-over way) do not qualify
> as "Elitism" as I presented it here. To qualify either 1] the same
> individual must be kept alive generation after generation, or 2]
> the individual must reproduce without the chance of a modification
> that would be "less fit".
2] holds here, for all practical purposes. "Generation" is not=20
realistically definable [no discussion of #1], and any instance of the=20
plant is essentially one multinuclear cell. Barring major radiation=20
[Chernobyl, etc.], 2 will hold almost surely [probability zero, but I could=
=20
describe highly unnatural ways of doing it]
"Reproduction" means "Oh dear, someone or something tore the plant in two."
This plant only has one tissue type, essentially; it has a rather=20
extreme lack of specialized tissue [for a macroscopic plant with=20
full-blown analogs of stems and leaves]. In particular, it does NOT have=
=20
any specialized reproductive tissue!
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/ Towards the conversion of data into information....
/
/ Kenneth Boyd
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////