I prefer to define a replicator following David Deutsch (The Fabric of Reality, page 172): A replicator is any entity which, if present in a certain type of environment, will cause that environment to make copies of it.
@deductivist ....and of course, there is a *degree* to which an entity is a replicator that is based on how *much* it causally contributes to its own copying in a given environment.
The concept of a gene lacks these details, and so is not as illuminating.
@deductivist Another perspective is that replicators copy themselves. Replicands are what gets copied. Evolution is based on replicands - not replicators. See "The Replicator: A Misnomer" by Mario Vaneechoutte.
@tmtyler I think the problem with such a definition would be that the system which makes copies of itself is reliant on the environment to successfully produce those copies. Example: Cells don't magically duplicate - they need food. So what is the replicator? Is it the cell, or is it the cell and all parts of the environment which contribute (in even the smallest way) to the manufacturing of a copy? Good article, btw. Thanks
I prefer to define a replicator following David Deutsch (The Fabric of Reality, page 172): A replicator is any entity which, if present in a certain type of environment, will cause that environment to make copies of it.
deductivist 1 year ago
@deductivist ....and of course, there is a *degree* to which an entity is a replicator that is based on how *much* it causally contributes to its own copying in a given environment.
The concept of a gene lacks these details, and so is not as illuminating.
deductivist 1 year ago
@deductivist Another perspective is that replicators copy themselves. Replicands are what gets copied. Evolution is based on replicands - not replicators. See "The Replicator: A Misnomer" by Mario Vaneechoutte.
tmtyler 1 year ago
@tmtyler I think the problem with such a definition would be that the system which makes copies of itself is reliant on the environment to successfully produce those copies. Example: Cells don't magically duplicate - they need food. So what is the replicator? Is it the cell, or is it the cell and all parts of the environment which contribute (in even the smallest way) to the manufacturing of a copy? Good article, btw. Thanks
deductivist 1 year ago
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jjsajd 2 years ago
jjsaid, why not state an actual counter-argument then, Instead of just flaming?
xXAkridXx 2 years ago
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jjsajd 2 years ago
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jjsajd 2 years ago