Gestalt-Switching and the Evolutionary Transitions

Formal methods developed for modeling levels of selection problems have recently been applied to the investigation of major evolutionary transitions. We discuss two new tools of this kind. First, the "near-variant test" can be used to compare the causal adequacy of predictively equivalent representations. Second, "state-variable gestalt-switching" can be used to gain a useful dual perspective on evolutionary processes that involve both higher and lower level populations.