From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Tue Aug 05 2003 - 16:06:44 MDT
On Tue, 5 Aug 2003, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
> Basically, an r-strategist is a k-strategist in optimal circumstances, with
> no competition. A k-strategist is an r-strategist in lean times.
Actually its somewhat different. r's evolve into k's as they trump
their hazard function (i.e. as they defeat any predators). To do
this you have to rise to the top of any local niche consumption
hierarchy (or otherwise defeat it). In that position one evolves
from r to k. The "lean times" scenario supports gene regulation
shifting that explains the effects of caloric restriction -- but
the overall species longevity (and reproductive strategy) is
a function of hazard function management.
This is easy to explain -- if you have a high hazard function nature
cannot afford to evolve things like long infant gestation periods,
long infant education periods, etc. You have to have an "r" strategy
if the species is to survive. If on the other hand one has managed
to trump the hazard function then one can evolve longer lifespans,
longer reproductive periods, etc.
> No basis for assuming any strategy as universal among space-capable civs.
Lots of basis if one assumes convergent evolution. For the scenario
of endless reproduction/colonization to be valid one has to presume
that a civilization would be capable of travel to another star system
but not be capable of either self-directed evolution or uploading.
That seems *very* iffy. If one assumes a "reasonable" level of
advancement of all technologies then a distributed replicated
intelligence -- i.e. copies of "myself" but no need to replicate
endlessly -- is where civilizations end up. (Actually to be more
specific it is likely that one end up with distributed copies
of redundant subcomponents of ones "mind".)
You have to postulate a species where individuals are willing to sacrifice
themselves for the endless production of their offspring to get the
"endless" colonization scenario I believe. It brings into focus
the two fundamental drives -- self-preservation and reproduction.
My argument is that in advanced technological species self-preservation
trumps reproduction.
Robert
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