jimmenegay{at}sbcglobal.net (Jim Menegay) wrote in
news:c60ru3$cih$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org: 

> I believe that Michod, if he wished to avoid unnecessary controversy
> with you, would agree that in normal times, there is only one fitness
> level that really matters.  However, he would insist that there must
> have been some non-normal times in the past - times of transition.
> Before the transition, say the transition to multicellularity, the
> only level of fitness that mattered was the independent cell level. 
> After the transition, the only level of fitness that mattered was the 
> multi-cellular organism level.  During the transition, there must have
> been two fitnesses that operated concurrently.  Michod feels that it
> is important to understand these freakish, unusual situations in which
> two levels of fitness are both important - these situations created
> the world we live in.  

I would just note that the existence of two competing fitness modes is 
still seen in slime molds (dictyostelium), the myxomycetes, and the 
myxobacteria. I don't know if Michod discusses these in his book.


Yours,

Bill Morse
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