Can *all* self-organisational processes be seen in evolutionary terms?
i.e. does every self-organisaitonal process involve:
a) some unit that is, fairly reliably persistent or duplicated
b) some process that produces variations on these units
c) some process of selection acting on these units
Take an example: Kauffman's binary networks. Although it appears to be
a non-evolutionary process and it is certainly qualitatively different
to the biological evolutionary process, it can be seen as an
evolutionary process thus:
a) the unit is the self-exciting loop in the network
b) the variation is introduced by loops triggering other loops
c) the selection is those (collections of) loops that cohere in
the sense that they reliably cause their own excitation
Am I merely streaching the term "evolutionary" to much?
Can anyone supply a clear counter example?
Thanks.
Regards.
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Bruce Edmonds,
Centre for Policy Modelling,
Manchester Metropolitan University, Aytoun Bldg.,
Aytoun St., Manchester, M1 3GH. UK.
Tel: +44 161 247 6479 Fax: +44 161 247 6802
http://bruce.edmonds.name