exaptation

Evolutionary mechanism of repurposing - using code, features, or resources already available in the current version of the organism (is there a good word for the thing that evolves?) to try to build new features. This happens because the edit distance between repurposed code and what it repurposes is much shorter, and P(repurposed code) at a timestamp is a function of edit distance and fitness.

Originally encountered in Lane

Backlinks

Edwards, Darren J. :: Functional Contextual Implementation of an Evolutionary, Entropy-Based, and Embodied Free Energy Framework: Utilizing Lagrangian Mechanics and Evolutionary Game Theory’s Truth vs. Fitness Test of the Veridicality of Phenomenological Experience