Dublincity U Niversity Essays on Darwinism 2: Organismic Darwinism School of Electronic Engineering

Arti cial Life is, by its nature, an interdisciplinary research programme; it will involve biologists, of course, but also philosophers, mathematicians, chemists, computer scientists|and perhaps even (as in my case) engineers. Success in our endeavours will require some of us, at least, to venture into foreign territory. This essay is a log of my personal expedition into evolutionary biology. I attempt to provide a comprehensive review of Darwinism in the biological world, and to do so as an outsider|a non-professional in the eld. My purpose is twofold. Firstly, I hope that real biologists may take this opportunity to correct at least the worst of my errors. Secondly, I o er this to other non-specialists as a sort of map|a record of my particular exploration. I hope it might at least provide some insight into the kinds of questions which need to be asked, even if the particular answers suggested here are less than satisfactory. Above all, I want to convince any who may be in doubt that Darwinism encompasses a complex and subtle system of interrelated theories, whose substantive transplantation to any arti cial medium will be very far from easy. This essay draws on abstract concepts introduced in a previous essay (McMullin 1992); the two essays are therefore best read in conjunction.