共查询到20条相似文献,搜索用时 24 毫秒
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Catherine Driscoll 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(1):101-113
This paper tries to explain how individuals manage adaptive individual choice (i.e., the decision to acquire a fitter than
average behavior or idea rapidly and tractably) in cultural evolution, despite the fact that acquiring fitness information
is very difficult. I argue that the means of solving this problem suggested in the cultural evolution literature largely are
various types of decision rules employing representations of fitness correlated properties or states of affairs. I argue that
the problem of adaptive individual choice is best solved where some of these learning rule representations are socially transmitted
and some are biologically transmitted.
相似文献
Catherine DriscollEmail: |
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Patrick Forber 《Biology & philosophy》2009,24(2):247-266
Evolutionary biology, indeed any science that attempts to reconstruct prehistory, faces practical limitations on available
data. These limitations create the problem of contrast failure: specific observations may fail to discriminate between rival evolutionary hypotheses. Assessing the risk of contrast failure
provides a way to evaluate testing protocols in evolutionary science. Here I will argue that part of the methodological critique
in the Spandrels paper involves diagnosing contrast failure problems. I then distinguish the problem of contrast failure from the more familiar
philosophical problem of underdetermination, and demonstrate how contrast failure arises in scientific practice with an investigation
into Lewontin and White’s (Evolution 14:116–129, 1960) estimation of an adaptive landscape.
相似文献
Patrick ForberEmail: |
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The recent contribution by Jarmila Kukalová-Peck on Hennigian phylogenetics and hexapod limb evolution is critically evaluated.
相似文献
Michael S. Engel (Corresponding author)Email: |
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Peter Olofsson 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(4):545-553
The explanatory filter is a proposed method to detect design in nature with the aim of refuting Darwinian evolution. The explanatory filter borrows
its logical structure from the theory of statistical hypothesis testing but we argue that, when viewed within this context,
the filter runs into serious trouble in any interesting biological application. Although the explanatory filter has been extensively
criticized from many angles, we present the first rigorous criticism based on the theory of mathematical statistics.
相似文献
Peter OlofssonEmail: |
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We develop a formal framework for the optimal allocation of limited resources that includes and clarifies the interplay between
individual optimization and the resulting effects at the population level. As an example, in regard to the evolution of sexual
recombination, the paradox of the twofold cost of sex is avoided by distinguishing between the evolution of recombination
and the subsequent emergence and stability of different mating types as a result of individual optimization within a population
that benefits from recombination.
相似文献
John PepperEmail: |
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Massimo Pigliucci 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(5):591-603
Sewall Wright introduced the metaphor of evolution on “adaptive landscapes” in a pair of papers published in 1931 and 1932.
The metaphor has been one of the most influential in modern evolutionary biology, although recent theoretical advancements
show that it is deeply flawed and may have actually created research questions that are not, in fact, fecund. In this paper
I examine in detail what Wright actually said in the 1932 paper, as well as what he thought of the matter at the very end
of his career, in 1988. While the metaphor is flawed, some of the problems which Wright was attempting to address are still
with us today, and are in the process of being reformulated as part of a forthcoming Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.
相似文献
Massimo PigliucciEmail: |
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Roger Sansom 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(4):475-491
I show that gene regulation networks are qualitatively consistent and therefore sufficiently similar to linearly seperable
connectionist networks to warrant that the connectionist framework be applied to gene regulation. On this view, natural selection
designs gene regulation networks to overcome the difficulty of development. I offer some general lessons about their evolvability
that can be learned by examining the generic features of connectionist networks.
相似文献
Roger SansomEmail: |
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Alejandro Rosas 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(4):555-566
Recent developments in evolutionary game theory argue the superiority of punishment over reciprocity as accounts of large-scale
human cooperation. I introduce a distinction between a behavioral and a psychological perspective on reciprocity and punishment
to question this view. I examine a narrow and a wide version of a psychological mechanism for reciprocity and conclude that a narrow version is clearly distinguishable from punishment, but inadequate for
humans; whereas a wide version is applicable to humans but indistinguishable from punishment. The mechanism for reciprocity
in humans emerges as a meta-norm that governs both retaliation and punishment. I make predictions open to empirical investigation
to confirm or disconfirm this view.
相似文献
Alejandro RosasEmail: |
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Terry Harmer 《Cluster computing》2007,10(3):277-285
Gridcast is an R&D project investigating grid ideas and technologies in the broadcasting technical infrastructure. In this
paper I discuss the business and technical issues in building infrastructures to support broadcasters and outline the structure
of the Gridcast grid-based service oriented architecture for broadcasting playout support.
相似文献
Terry HarmerEmail: |
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Alex Mesoudi 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(2):243-255
Critics of Darwinian cultural evolution frequently assert that whereas biological evolution is blind and undirected, cultural
change is directed or guided by people who possess foresight, thereby invalidating any Darwinian analysis of culture. Here
I show this argument to be erroneous and unsupported in several respects. First, critics commonly conflate human foresight
with supernatural clairvoyance, resulting in the premature rejection of Darwinian cultural evolution on false logical grounds.
Second, the presence of foresight is perfectly consistent with Darwinian evolution, and is found in biology, in the form of
open, teleonomic processes such as genetically-biased behavioural learning. Finally, empirical evidence from the social sciences
suggests that cultural change appears far less guided and directed, and human foresight far less accurate, than is commonly
assumed.
相似文献
Alex MesoudiEmail: |
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Brett Calcott 《Biology & philosophy》2008,23(5):639-657
According to Pigliucci and Kaplan, there is a revolution underway in how we understand fitness landscapes. Recent models suggest
that a perennial problem in these landscapes—how to get from one peak across a fitness valley to another peak—is, in fact,
non-existent. In this paper I assess the structure and the extent of Pigliucci and Kaplan’s proposed revolution and argue
for two points. First, I provide an alternative interpretation of what underwrites this revolution, motivated by some recent
work on model-based science. Second, I show that the implications of this revolution need to carefully assessed depending on question being asked,
for peak-shifting is not central to all evolutionary questions that fitness landscapes have been used to explore.
相似文献
Brett CalcottEmail: |
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A key point in the analysis of dynamical models of biological systems is to handle systems of relatively high dimensions.
In the present paper we propose a method to hierarchically organize a certain type of piecewise affine (PWA) differential
systems. This specific class of systems has been extensively studied for the past few years, as it provides a good framework
to model gene regulatory networks. The method, shown on several examples, allows a qualitative analysis of the asymptotic
behavior of a PWA system, decomposing it into several smaller subsystems. This technique, based on the well-known strongly
connected components decomposition, is not new. However, its adaptation to the non-smooth PWA differential equations turns
out to be quite relevant because of the strong discrete structure underlying these equations. Its biological relevance is
shown on a 7-dimensional PWA system modeling the gene network responsible for the carbon starvation response in Escherichia coli.
相似文献
Laurent Tournier (Corresponding author)Email: |
Jean-Luc GouzéEmail: |
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T. Ryan Gregory 《Evolution》2009,2(1):5-27
It is clear from his published works that Charles Darwin considered domestication to be very useful in exploring and explaining
mechanisms of evolutionary change. Not only did domestication occupy the introductory chapter of On the Origin of Species, but he revisited the topic in a two-volume treatise less than a decade later. In addition to drawing much of his information
about heredity from studies of domesticated animals and plants, Darwin saw important parallels between the process of artificial
selection by humans and natural selection by the environment. There was resistance to this analogy even among Darwin’s contemporary
supporters when it was proposed, and there also has been disagreement among historians and philosophers regarding the role
that the analogy with artificial selection actually played in the discovery of natural selection. Regardless of these issues,
the analogy between artificial and natural selection remains important in both research and education in evolution. In particular,
the present article reviews ten lessons about evolution that can be drawn from the modern understanding of domestication and
artificial selection. In the process, a basic overview is provided of current approaches and knowledge in this rapidly advancing
field.
相似文献
T. Ryan GregoryEmail: |
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Abhijeet Bardapurkar 《Evolution》2008,1(3):299-305
This paper critically reviews and characterizes the student's causal-explanatory understanding; this is done as a step toward
explicating the problematic of evolution education as it concerns the cognitive difficulties in understanding Darwin's theory of natural selection. The review concludes that the student's understanding is fundamentally different from Darwin's, for
the student understands evolutionary change as necessary individual transformation caused by the transformative action of
various physical and behavioral factors. This is in complete contrast to Darwin's (and even the Darwinian's, for that matter)
understanding of evolutionary change as a change caused by accumulative selection. Hence, to understand natural selection,
the student has to learn to “see” how the accumulative selection causes evolutionary change.
相似文献
Abhijeet BardapurkarEmail: |
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The Cauchy problem for one-dimensional spiking neuron models 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
Romain Brette 《Cognitive neurodynamics》2008,2(1):21-27
I consider spiking neuron models defined by a one-dimensional differential equation and a reset—i.e., neuron models of the
integrate-and-fire type. I address the question of the existence and uniqueness of a solution on for a given initial condition. It turns out that the reset introduces a countable and ordered set of backward solutions for
a given initial condition. I discuss the implications of these mathematical results in terms of neural coding and spike timing
precision.
相似文献
Romain BretteEmail: |
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Sub-Antarctic Marion Island has had a permanent research station for 50 years and the islands Wandering Albatrosses have been intensively studied for 20 years. The reactions of breeding birds to approaches by a human on foot were recorded. Three response variables were calculated: intensity of vocal reaction (IVR), intensity of non-vocal reaction (INR) and overall response index (ORI). At 5 m from the nest, twice as many birds stood and/or vocalised as at 15 m. Nearest neighbour distance, age and gender did not explain individual variability of responses. Study colony birds had higher IVR scores than non-study colony birds; birds at colonies closest to the station had the highest ORI scores. A better breeding record was associated with lower IVR and ORI scores, but a causative relationship remains to be demonstrated. A minimum viewing distance of 25 m is recommended for breeding Wandering Albatrosses.
相似文献
Marienne S. de VilliersEmail: Fax: +27-21-6503434 |
John CooperEmail: |
Peter G. RyanEmail: |