Erwin Moller wrote:

> > TT:-
> > Billiard balls can have direction - but they do not have a plan.
> > If anyone think a direction implies a plan, we can simply refer
> > them to a dictionary.

> EM:-
> Yes, indeed. Good analogy.
> I wrote the obvious (for you) just because I know a lot of people think 
> evolution has a plan. Visit talk.origins I you want to meet a few :-)
> (But that is not likely to happen in this ng, to which I am realitively 
> new.)

JE:-
Note that "Billiard balls" do have a _maximand_:
to increase entropy (maximise disorder). 
Such a maximand acts like a plan
because it determines the actions of the balls
via their energy inputs and outputs. Living things must
also end up increasing entropy while at the same time 
reproducing themselves via a temporary _reduction_
in entropy  using the same energy bookkeeping (the
energy books MUST balance). The Darwinian concept
of absolute fitness becomes a new maximand which must
act in concert with the physics maximand. As long as 
the physics debts are paid and the energy books balance
the Darwinian maximand remains valid. Like a physics
maximand it acts like "a plan" but it is not such an
event. The rule is: all living things must maximise
their absolute Darwinian fitness.
This means that absolute Darwinian fitness cannot be
selected to be reduced in the way Hamilton et al
have described. In the Hamiltonian situation the absolute
Darwinian fitness books that constitute a biological
maximand must balance. It can be shown that Hamilton
et al remain in error by the amount, m, i.e. organism
fitness altruism (OFA) can only be proven when rb-c> m
where m represents a _deleted_ amount of "base line" 
fitness within Hamilton's rule. The net result is
that Hamilton's rule cannot measure the difference
between c as a "selfish" mutualised investment and c 
as an "altruistic" donation making a mockery of
OFA.

Regards,

John Edser
Independent Researcher

PO Box 266
Church Pt
NSW 2105
Australia

edser{at}tpg.com.au






Regards,

John Edser
Independent Researcher
PO Box 266
Church Pt
NSW 2105
Australia

edser{at}tpg.com.au
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