Is Self-Replication Required for the Growth of Knowledge?
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My neo-Darwinian approach to the mind suggests that minds evolve knowledge through the imperfect replication of ideas.
Some people (most notably Ella Hoeppner) have argued that replication isn’t necessary for evolution to take place. All you need is variation and selection.
Criticism of #4049Criticized4*
My response has always been that I don’t care whether replication is a necessary component of evolution, but that, 1), in the Popperian spirit, we shouldn’t break with other evolutionary theories unnecessarily. Genes and memes both replicate.
Criticism of #4050