There is a widespread view that the process of adaptation in complex systems is made difficult due to an evolutionary cost of complexity that is reflected in lower evolvability. This line of reasoning suggests that organisms must have special properties to overcome this cost, such as integration, modularity, and robustness, and that the reduction in the rate of evolution and variational constraints could help explain why organisms might not respond to selection. Here, we discuss the issues that arise from this conviction and highlight an alternative view where complexity represents an opportunity by increasing the evolutionary potential of a population. We highlight the lack of evidence supporting the influence of complexity on evolvability. Empirical data on the patterns of contemporary selection are critical for understanding this relationship.

中文翻译：

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复杂性、进化性和适应过程

人们普遍认为，由于复杂性的进化成本（反映在较低的进化性上），复杂系统的适应过程变得困难。这一推理表明，生物体必须具有特殊的属性来克服这种成本，例如集成性、模块化和鲁棒性，并且进化速率和变异约束的降低可以帮助解释为什么生物体可能不对选择做出反应。在这里，我们讨论由这一信念引起的问题，并强调另一种观点，即复杂性代表着通过增加种群进化潜力的机会。我们强调缺乏支持复杂性对可进化性影响的证据。关于当代选择模式的经验数据对于理解这种关系至关重要。