Phenotypes, genotypes, and operators in evolutionary computation

Evolutionary computation can be conducted at various levels of abstraction (e.g., genes, individuals, species). Recent claims have been made that simulated evolution can be made more biologically accurate by applying specific genetic operators that mimic low-level transformations to DNA. This paper argues instead that the appropriateness of particular variation operators depends on the level of abstraction of the simulation. Further, including specific random variation operators simply because they have a similar form as genetic operators that occur in nature does not, in general, lead to greater fidelity in simulation