> In order to evolve, the animals have to go through a long period of
> time, such as 5 million days. In the book, it is written that the
> animals evolve because of the surrounding environment. Meanwhile, the
> inheritance and mutation are determined by random function:

> (defun reproduce (animal)
>   (let ((e (animal-energy animal)))
>      (when (>= e *reproduction-energy*)
>         (setf (animal-energy animal) (ash e -1))
>         (let ((animal-nu (copy-structure animal))
>               (genes     (copy-list (animal-genes animal)))
>               (mutation  (random 8)))
>         (setf (nth mutation genes) (max 1 (+ (nth mutation genes)
> (random 3) -1)))
>         (setf (animal-genes animal-nu) genes)
>         (push animal-nu *animals*)))))

> How can this randomness correlate with the evolution of the animals,
> which involves the environment surrounding it? Genes generation and
> mutation are completely random, and has nothing to do with the jungle
> or the plants. Or am I missing something?

> I don't like the word evolution. It gives us the impression that we are
> somehow really clever and adapt to our surroundings.

> I prefer the term evolution through natural selection. This suggests we
> mutate randomly and nature / environment picks the winners and losers.

> The evidence of the game supports the latter theory rather than the first.

> On Monday, April 9, 2012 9:09:43 AM UTC+1, Rickert wrote:

>> In order to evolve, the animals have to go through a long period of
>> time, such as 5 million days. In the book, it is written that the
>> animals evolve because of the surrounding environment. Meanwhile, the
>> inheritance and mutation are determined by random function:

>> (defun reproduce (animal)
>>   (let ((e (animal-energy animal)))
>>      (when (>= e *reproduction-energy*)
>>         (setf (animal-energy animal) (ash e -1))
>>         (let ((animal-nu (copy-structure animal))
>>               (genes     (copy-list (animal-genes animal)))
>>               (mutation  (random 8)))
>>         (setf (nth mutation genes) (max 1 (+ (nth mutation genes)
>> (random 3) -1)))
>>         (setf (animal-genes animal-nu) genes)
>>         (push animal-nu *animals*)))))

>> How can this randomness correlate with the evolution of the animals,
>> which involves the environment surrounding it? Genes generation and
>> mutation are completely random, and has nothing to do with the jungle
>> or the plants. Or am I missing something?