THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEA OF NATURAL
SELECTION IS QUITE SIMPLE.
DARWIN HIMSELF STATES
IT IN A SINGLE PARAGRAPH
AT THE END OF CHAPTER 4
OF THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.
AND IT IS, SUPPOSE
TO YOU HAVE ENTITIES
THAT REPRODUCE
THEMSELVES WITH FIDELITY,
THEY MAKE COPIES OF THEMSELVES
WITH MUTATIONS, WITH VARIATION.
SO THEY'RE NOT ALL PERFECT.
THEN SUPPOSE THAT THE
DIFFERENCES IN THE COPIES
MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
THAT IS TO SAY, SUPPOSE
THAT DUE TO THAT VARIATION,
SOME OF THE COPIES ARE A
LITTLE BETTER ABLE TO FEND
FOR THEMSELVES THEN OTHERS.
FOR WHATEVER REASON,
WHATEVER REASON AT ALL.
THEN IT SIMPLY FOLLOWS LOGICALLY
THAT THOSE THAT DO BETTER
IN THE LOTTERY WILL
HAVE OFFSPRING,
WHICH ARE THEMSELVES, BETTER,
MORE ABLE TO DO BETTER.
BECAUSE THEY COPY THEIR PARENTS.
AND THAT SIMPLE RATCHET
WILL REITERATE AND REITERATE
AND REITERATE OVER TIME.
AND THIS GRADUAL PROCESS WILL
IMPROVE DESIGN IN MYRIAD WAYS.
AND THAT'S THE BASIC IDEA
OF NATURAL SELECTION.
THERE'S DIFFERENTIAL
REPRODUCTION AND SOME,
WHICH IS THE SAME
AS TO SAY, THERE'S
A SELECTIVE PRESSURE
OF SOME SORT
SO THAT NOT ALL OFFSPRING
ARE CREATED EQUAL.
AND THAT'S ENOUGH TO
SET THE PROCESS GOING.
AND IT DOESN'T
MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE
WHAT MEDIUM THIS IS IN.
IT CAN BE IN THE MEDIUM OF
COMPUTER SOFTWARE, THAT'S
WHY GENETIC ALGORITHMS
ARE SO POWERFUL,
AS A WAY OF DESIGNING
NEW PROGRAMS.
IT CAN BE IN THE MEDIUM
OF CULTURAL ARTIFACTS.
THAT'S WHY SOME
SONGS GET REPRODUCED
IN MILLIONS AND
BILLIONS OF REPETITIONS
AND OTHER'S GET HEARD ONCE
OR TWICE AND THEN GO EXTINCT.
DIFFERENTIAL REPRODUCTION IS THE
KEY IDEA OF NATURAL SELECTION.
