Evolutionary Dynamics
by Martin A. Nowak · first published 2006
71% recommend29% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Mathematical treatment of evolution using population dynamics and game theory to model selection and cooperation; a readable bridge between biology and its equations, suited to readers comfortable with some math.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"At a time of unprecedented expansion in the life sciences, evolution is the one theory that transcends all of biology. Any observation of a living system must ultimately be interpreted in the context of its evolution. Evolutionary change is the consequence of mutation and natural selection, which are two concepts that can be described by mathematical equations. Evolutionary Dynamics is concerned with these equations of life. In this book, Martin A. Nowak draws on the languages of biology and mathematics to outline the mathematical principles according to which life evolves. His work introduce
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tldr: malware evolves into superintelligence. I'm afraid evolution doesn't work like that. Here's a good book (some math): https://www.amazon.com/Evolutionary-Dynamics-Exploring-Equat... The long and the short of it is that software can't evolve because too much of its genome space is lethal, and the non-lethal parts are non-contiguous, so the quasispecies decoheres…
on “Pack Hunters of the Silicon Savannas” ↗…interesting, honestly it's only scratching the surface of the current state of the art (and the idea of TE's acting as fodder for evolution isn't exactly new). Short reply -- Get Martin Nowak's book Evolutionary Dynamics Long reply -- Even Nowak's work is just the beginning (disclaimer: my current Ph.D. thesis work is building off of Nowak's start). Let's start with this notion that TE's are vital for evolution. Real…
on “Is "junk DNA" essential for evolution?” ↗…as an evolutionary biologist, don't read that book. Dawkins oversimplifies the important and complicates the obvious. If you want a good book on an analytical approach to evolution, might I recommend "Evolutionary Dynamics" by Nowak in its place.
on “Alan Kay’s reading list” ↗A wonderful book that answers this and many other questions is 'Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life' by Martin Nowak.
on “Substantial undocumented infection facilitates rapid dissemination of SARS-CoV2” ↗…don't think it can yet. My point was just that such things should be studied, and are being studied. The link I provided is of particular interest in the area of moral theory. There is a good book called Evolutionary Dynamics that summarizes this group's work and contains, among other things, a rather beautiful equation predicting the optimal rate of forgiveness in cooperating populations.
on “IQ and Religion” ↗…course, hence my book recommendation. If that's wrong and OP wants a math-first approach, here are a few gems: Physical Biology of the Cell, Phillips, et. al An Introduction to Systems Biology, Alon Evolutionary Dynamics, Nowack
on “Biology is a Burrito: A text- and visual-based journey through a living cell” ↗Do you have anything to say about Nowak's work on evolutionary dynamics? I have a book in my shelf in which I have only glanced the pictures, and as of yet my understanding of altriusm in nature is pretty much limited to readings of Axelrod and his tit-for-tat and also Dawkins'…
on “Forget Survival of the Fittest: It Is Kindness That Counts (2009)” ↗Thanks. It's nice to hear the 80's article was acknowledged. Game theory dynamics are fascinating. I have Nowak's Evolutionary Dynamics in my shelf, in which he covers for instance spatial prisoner's dilemma modelled as cellular automata.
on “Why Oatmeal Is Cheap: Kolmogorov Complexity and Procedural Generation[pdf]” ↗…models similar to the Ultimatum game[1][2]. These are known as Iterated Prisoner's Dilemmas. --- [1] The Evolution of Cooperation (https://ee.stanford.edu/~hellman/Breakthrough/book/pdfs/axel...) [2] Evolutionary Dynamics of Spatial Games (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/016727...)
on “AI models collapse when trained on recursively generated data” ↗