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SUMMARY:&quot\;Does evolution have a built in Occam’s razor?&quot\; - Pr
 ofessor Ard Louis
DTSTART:20230621T150000Z
DTEND:20230621T160000Z
UID:TALK202567@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr. Adrien Hallou
DESCRIPTION:Darwinian evolution proceeds by natural selection acting on ra
 ndom variation. In this talk I will argue that random mutations can genera
 te striking patterns in the arrival of novel phenotypes that can shape ada
 ptive outcomes. The basic intuition follows from an algorithmic twist on t
 he infinite monkey theorem\, inspired by the fact that natural selection d
 oesn’t act directly on mutations\, but rather on the phenotypes that are
  generated by developmental programmes. If the monkeys type at random in a
  computer language\, they will preferentially produce outputs that can be 
 generated by shorter algorithms. This intuition can be formalised with alg
 orithmic information theory and predicts that random mutations are exponen
 tially more likely to produce simpler phenotypes with low descriptional (K
 olmogorov) complexity. Evidence for this evolutionary Occam’s razor will
  be presented for symmetry in protein complexes\, and for simplicity in RN
 A secondary structures\, gene regulatory networks\, and Richard Dawkins’
 biomorphs model of development.
LOCATION:Auditorium of Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (Bateman 
 Street)
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