论文标题
进化的速度限制：后记
A Speed Limit for Evolution: Postscript
论文作者
论文摘要
在1995年，我写了一篇论文：“进化的速度限制”，其主要结果是，进化必须根据许多作者的早期观点和直觉进行缓慢进行。该论文的摘要说：“在物种表型的某些部分中表达的遗传信息不能比给定速率更快，这是由该部分的选择压力确定的。该速率通常是每代的一小部分。”该结果是在有性繁殖和其他效果（例如暂时孤立的亚人群）的情况下得出的。 1999年，戴维·麦凯（David Mackay）发表了一篇论文，显然与这一结果相矛盾。在摘要中，他写道：“我们发现具有重组和人群的人群之间存在明显的差异。如果单独通过突变产生变化，那么整个人群每一代人的差异都达到大约1位。如果通过重组产生变异，则种群可以获得每代SQRT（G）位的阶（G）位。” Mackay提出，有性繁殖具有突出的进化益处，而我的结果太低了，这是一个很大的因素。后来，他在2003年写的一本教科书中重复了这一结果。本说明的目的是表明，麦克莱模型的关键假设“健身是一种严格的加性特征”是如此不现实，以至于使他的结果与任何实际生活形式无关。因此，我得出的速度限制仍然有效，并且对人类认知进化产生了重要影响。
In 1995 I wrote a paper: "A Speed Limit for Evolution" whose main result was that evolution must proceed rather slowly, in accordance with the earlier views and intuitions of many authors. The abstract of the paper said: "The genetic information expressed in some part of the phenotype of a species cannot increase faster than a given rate, determined by the selection pressure on that part. This rate is typically a small fraction of a bit per generation". This result was derived in the presence of sexual reproduction and other effects such as temporarily isolated sub-populations. In 1999 David Mackay published a paper which apparently contradicted this result. In the abstract, he wrote "We find striking differences between populations that have recombination and populations that do not. If variation is produced by mutation alone, then the entire population gains up to roughly 1 bit per generation. If variation is created by recombination, the population can gain of the order of sqrt(G) bits per generation." Mackay proposed that there were outstanding evolutionary benefits to sexual reproduction, and that my result was too low by a very large factor. He later repeated this result in a textbook he wrote in 2003. The purpose of this note is to show that the key assumption of Mackays model, that "fitness is a strictly additive trait" is so unrealistic as to render his results irrelevant to any actual life form. In consequence, the speed limit I derived is still valid, and has important consequences for human cognitive evolution.
