Billy writes:
> Or, to say the same thing in the vocabulary of evolutionary biology, any
> system containing replicating entities will tend to be dominated by those
> entities which replicate most effectively. You can start with a
> 99.999999999% pure population of 'voluntary' non-replicators, and you will
> still end up with an environment dominated by industrious replicators.
This is assuming that the replicators retain their desire to replicate,
and that there are no constraints on their replication.
> Voluntary non-expansion on the scale of an entire civilization is only
> possible if there is no individual variation (i.e. a borganism). Voluntary
> non-expansion in a population of civilizations over evolutionary time is
> only possible if all advanced civilizations inevitably converge to a
> non-expanding borganism.
What if there is a convention adopted by the entities involved that
unconstrained replication is not allowed. Any unconstrained replication
is viewed as a threat and is prevented. Some entities would like to
replicate, but they cannot. Most do not want to replicate, and attempt
to prevent others from doing so.
This is a common theme explored in science fiction, where in an
overpopulated world there are laws regulating the number of children.
A moderate form of this is supposedly already being practiced in China.
It seems to me that this would be a stable situtation, and one which
might be adopted because it produces a better outcome for the participants
than they would get in a world of unconstrained replication.
Hal
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