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Universal Darwinism (also known as generalized Darwinism, universal selection theory,〔 〕 or Darwinian metaphysics〔von Sydow, M. (2012). (From Darwinian Metaphysics towards Understanding the Evolution of Evolutionary Mechanisms. ) A Historical and Philosophical Analysis of Gene-Darwinism and Universal Darwinism. Universitätsverlag Göttingen.〕〔von Sydow, M. (2013). (Darwinian Metaphysics ) (pp. 1306-1314). In A. Runehov & L. Oviedo (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Heidelberg, New York: Springer Science (10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8 ).〕〔von Sydow, M. (2014). (‘Survival of the Fittest’ in Darwinian Metaphysics - Tautology or Testable Theory? ) (pp. 199-222) In E. Voigts, B. Schaff &M. Pietrzak-Franger (Eds.). Reflecting on Darwin. Farnham, London: Ashgate.〕) refers to a variety of approaches that extend the theory of Darwinism beyond its original domain of biological evolution on Earth. Universal Darwinism aims to formulate a generalized version of the mechanisms of variation, selection and heredity proposed by Charles Darwin, so that they can apply to explain evolution in a wide variety of other domains, including psychology, economics, culture, medicine, computer science and physics. ==Basic mechanisms== At the most fundamental level, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution states that organisms evolve and adapt to their environment by an iterative process. This process can be conceived as an evolutionary algorithm that searches the space of possible forms (the fitness landscape) for the ones that are best adapted. The process has three components: * variation of a given form or template. This is usually (but not necessarily) considered to be blind or random, and happens typically by mutation or recombination. * selection of the fittest variants, i.e. those that are best suited to survive and reproduce in their given environment. The unfit variants are eliminated. * heredity or retention, meaning that the features of the fit variants are retained and passed on, e.g. in offspring. After those fit variants are retained, they can again undergo variation, either directly or in their offspring, starting a new round of the iteration. The overall mechanism is similar to the problem-solving procedures of trial-and-error or generate-and-test: evolution can be seen as searching for the best solution for the problem of how to survive and reproduce by generating new trials, testing how well they perform, eliminating the failures, and retaining the successes. The generalization made in "universal" Darwinism is to replace "organism" by any recognizable pattern, phenomenon, or system. The first requirement is that the pattern can "survive" (maintain, be retained) long enough or "reproduce" (replicate, be copied) sufficiently frequently so as not to disappear immediately. This is the heredity component: the information in the pattern must be retained or passed on. The second requirement is that during survival and reproduction variation (small changes in the pattern) can occur. The final requirement is that there is a selective "preference" so that certain variants tend to survive or reproduce "better" than others. If these conditions are met, then, by the logic of natural selection, the pattern will evolve towards more adapted forms. Examples of patterns that have been postulated to undergo variation and selection, and thus adaptation, are genes, ideas (memes), theories, neurons and their connections, words, computer programs, firms, antibodies, institutions, quantum states and even whole universes.〔Campbell, John (2009). Bayesian Methods and Universal Darwinism. AIP Conf. Proc. 1193, 40, . 40-47.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Universal Darwinism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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