Evolution: A Game of Chance
We view this as the natural progression of life. Truth is, there was no guarantee that some big brained primates in Africa would end up like we are now. It wasn’t inevitable that we grew taller, less hairy, and smarter than our relatives. And it certainly wasn’t guaranteed that single celled bacteria-like critters ended up joining forces into multicellular organisms, eventually leading to big brained primates!
Evolution isn’t predictable, and randomness is key in determining how things change. But that’s not the same as saying life evolves by chance. That’s because while the cause of evolution is random (mutations in our genes) the processes of evolution (selection) is not. It’s kind of like playing poker – the hand you receive is random, but the odds of you winning with it aren’t. And like poker, it’s about much more than just what you’re dealt. Outside factors – your friend’s ability to bluff you in your poker game, or changing environmental conditions in the game of life – also come into play. So while evolution isn’t random, it is a game of chance, and given how many species go extinct, it’s one where the house almost always wins.
- Charlie Munger On Practice Evolution
From Whitney Tilson's 2000 Wesco Annual Meeting Notes:Practice Evolution "This is really important. For example, Hertz and Enterprise Rent-a-Car through practice evolution have developed personnel systems, etc. that work for them. They are...
- Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey Some Of The Things That Molecules Do (episode 2)
If you missed Episode 1, it is available HERE. Link to video: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey: Some of the Things That Molecules Do ................... The episode above was largely about evolution. If you're new to the subject and want to learn more,...
- Paper: William D. Hamilton’s Work In Evolutionary Game Theory
Abstract William D. Hamilton’s impact on contemporary views of evolution has been nothing short of revolutionary, and his contributions to our reasoning on kin selection, genomic conflicts, parasitism and costs of sex dominate these fields. He also...
- Nyt: Evolution Right Under Our Noses
Found via Hunter-Gatherer. Dr. Munshi-South has joined the ranks of a small but growing number of field biologists who study urban evolution — not the rise and fall of skyscrapers and neighborhoods, but the biological changes that cities bring to the...
- A Big Deal: Poker Is Getting Younger, Cleverer, Duller And Much, Much Richer
At the highest level, decisions about betting, bluffing and folding are based on the complex juggling of probabilities. “What drew me to poker is that it is essentially an academic endeavour,” says Ms Duke. She is one of a growing group of full-time...