RIP genetic evolution – long live cognition!
Evolution – meaning the process of chance mutation and non-chance retention by natural selection – is a slow, tedious and complexity bound process on the genetic level as pointed out brilliantly by Eliezer on the overcomming biases blog. Genetic evolution as an optimization process is full of flaws, drawbacks and dead ends. Genetic evolution is blind and if genetic evolution has a goal it can only be seen in the implicit goal of increasing fitness.
Human cognition is a far better optimization process, yet by far not as well understood as genetic evolution. The crucial point of genetic evolution however is, that it is the only naturally occurring optimization process. Having taken 3.5 billion years to evolve the superior optimization process of human cognition one might argue that genetic evolution has done its duty and can retire and leave increasing fitness further to its successor: human cognition.
Jame5 » Estimating cognitive evolution’s complexity boundary in humans said,
November 7, 2007 @ 7:46 pm
[…] touched upon earlier genetic evolution is complexity bound. To be exact to about 25 megabytes because roughly speaking, […]
Jame5 » To be, or not to be, that is the question said,
November 11, 2007 @ 7:49 pm
[…] asked and answered passively on the chemical level and later actively ‘pondered’ on the cognitive level to avoid reality taking its toll. With the realization that what is good is what increases fitness […]