[Dimensio]

If reproduction is the goal of evolution

I'm not sure of anyone with credibility who has argued that evolution has any 'goals'. That's like asking about the 'goal' of gravity.

Evolution has no goal. Evolution cannot select a goal because evolution is not a concept of a thing it's a concept of a process. Without faith, evolution is impossible.

The last statement does not seem to logically connect with anything else that you said.

[Theophilus]

The context of my comment was a conversation about whether computer models of genetic algorithms can demonstrate that evolution is possible and probable. I say that they can't, because all such models require an objective(s). Software never writes itself.

I don't believe in Evolution but those who do must believe it has a goal because "Natural Selection" requires criteria. I don't believe nature can select (anymore than gravity) but if it could select, it would require criteria - a goal or goals on which to base it's selection.

Ichneumon said:
For evolution to occur, there has to be some method by which variations are "graded" in some fashion by whether they are more or less "successful", and this has to affect their reproductive rates. In nature, that takes place by the sheer fact of life itself -- those individuals which are better suited to survive long enough to reproduce (and reproduce successfully, and/or more often) are the ones who are going to pass on more of their genes than the ones who do so less successfully.

Molecules just don't assemble themselves in ever increasing complexity by accident and trying to get software to evolve is a fools errand.