Taking “biology” just seriously enough: Commentary on “On the Mapping of Genotype to Phenotype in Evolutionary Algorithms” by Peter A. Whigham, Grant Dick, and James Maclaurin

Abstract

“On the Mapping of Genotype to Phenotype in Evolutionary Algorithms,” by Peter A. Whigham, Grant Dick, and James Maclaurin, is a welcome reminder that evolutionary computation practitioners should be wary of taking their biological analogies too seriously. But more importantly, it is a reminder to practitioners to consider carefully their representations and operators, rather than blindly implementing a biological analogy without sufficient attention to the constraints of software engineering. “It works in biology, so it should work in EC” is poor, even lazy, software design. The primary contribution of this paper is exactly what a commentary should be: to (re)ignite discussions about how biological inspiration should inform EC practice.