Re: Life without evolution/evolution without life?

[Howard Pattee <***>]

James,

I think the minimum conditions for a Darwinian process require 1) units with heritable 
memory, 2) noise (mutation), 3) a population of memory controlled (or memory influenced) 
units, 4) ecological test of units (competition, selection).

The only example I can think of that is not living is a computer programmed with the 
above conditions, but there may be others. Many such badly-named ?genetic algorithm? 
programs exist.

Howard,

> Howard,
>
> Do you see any way to coordinate Darwinian processes
> with non-living events and systems?
>
> James
> 03/20/04
>
>
> Howard Pattee wrote:
>
> > Life did not suddenly ?exist? but arose gradually from non-living
> > organizations of matter. There were several billion years of
> > pre-Darwinian types of evolution that is the subject of much study today.
> >
>