Natural Selection as the Sum over all Histories

Author(s): Cllr Clive Neal-Sturgess

As evolution can be connected to the principle of least action, and if it is depicted in evolution-space versus time then it corresponds to the direction of ultimate causation. As an organism evolves and follows a path of proximate causation, if the vector is closely parallel to that of the Ultimate Causation then the changes will confer desirable attributes which will lead to further development. If, however, the variations do not occur in a direction close to that of the ultimate causation vector the evolved organism will quickly die out. Therefore Natural Selection may be viewed as similar to Feynman’s “sum over all histories”. This approach is compatible with both Neutral Theory and Selection, as it includes both positive and negative mutations and selection. Therefore, the principle of least action gives a direction, but not a purpose, to evolution.