Evolutionary Computation ◾ 127
will have more mates and ospring) but does not create new genes, only
gene combinations. e roles of the organism and the environment are very
clear: the organism presents a possibly new genetic constitution, and the
environment selects among individuals. is paradigm is encapsulated by
the slogan, “e organism proposes and the environment disposes.”
One could deduce from this that the genes uniquely determine the
characteristics of the organism, and therefore the environment really
selects between genes. But, as we all know, biological systems are much
more complex; even identical twins—who share the same set of genes—
are not completely identical. e development of an organism is a long and
com