Cryptic phenotypes can be triggered by environmental conditions. Helmet expresison in Daphnia can be induced by presence of predators. From (Weiss 2019).
- In Life, Conway was interested in a system that could vanish as well as grow.
- Does selection actually favor limitlessly increasing complexity and growth?
- Evolvability also evolves, and (as we can observe in cryptic phenotypes) past consistency is no guarantee of continued complacency.
- 'The universe gets what it selects for'.
I am interested in integrating the concept of existential forcing found in DWs in systems capable of intrinsic evolution, or looking for intrinsic evolution in DaisyWorld-type models.
But we shouldn't lose sight of ethical considerations of building systems red in tooth in claw that may contain entities capable of suffering (e.g. see Egan <~2007, Egan 2008).