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Completely unused code requires more energy for genetic copying, yet delivers, by definition, no benefit to the organism. - Southack

"So what?" - Antiguv

So...technically, an organism would be genetically superior if it had all of its functionality without also having unused genetic code as baggage. Natural Selection *should* favor those without the unused code...

I've already responded to your 'concerns' above. Repeating your falsehood doesn't make you any less wrong, just more stubbornly wrong.

PS. The only genetic "superiority" from the standpoint of evolution is fitness to survive and propagate. Our aesthetic value-judgments are of no consequence whatsoever in that regard..

So...technically, an organism would be genetically superior if it had all of its functionality without also having unused genetic code as baggage. Natural Selection *should* favor those without the unused code...

If the cost of keeping the code around is extremely low, then it probably won't get selected out any time soon.

This is false:

Natural Selection *should* favor those without the unused code...

Natural selection does not favor those without unused code. Natural selection favors the survival of the fittest. If the G. intestinalis with unused code is the fittest in its ecological niche, natural selection favors its survival. If a G. intestinalis emerged without unused code, natural selection probably wouldn't much care, at least in the short term. It would almost certainly be a neutral trait for survival/procreation.

In the long term it's an open question which one would be favored, because it depends on which one could more effectively adapt to whatever competitive pressures might then arise. If the absence of unused code made the G. intestinalis less capable of adapting, those versions would not be favored by natural selection (if adaptation were required). If the presence of unused code made those other G. intestinalis less capable of surviving, then they would not be favored (if resources were sufficiently limited). And so on.

But your basic statement is simply false. In the absence of competitive pressure, natural selection is merely survival of the adequate...