[Doctor Stochastic]

Now that I've read the paper I can comment. It's rather nice. They emulate DNA functionality better than my simulations. I liked the was that sub-optimal forms are generated naturally and that one may have to retirer pour mieux sauter (I don't remember where the diacriticals go). I suggested some time ago (in analogy with the Metropolis algorithm) that one might acquire several neutral or even slightly disadvantageous mutations before the combination gave a great leap forward. The paper suggest that this happens.

I did not check the dynamics of their simulation. What I found in mine was that randomly driven (Brownian motion) mutations causes the genotypes to vary at a Sqrt(N) rate for N time steps but the selection worked proportional to N. (I should develop a real study of this after I retire and get some time.)

Thanks for the article. It was fun to read.

[Nebullis]

I suggested some time ago (in analogy with the Metropolis algorithm) that one might acquire several neutral or even slightly disadvantageous mutations before the combination gave a great leap forward.

This is behind the idea of cooption.

I have some unforseen obligations to attend to but I'll try to comment more, later. I appreciate your comments!