The Master Algorithm: How the Quest for the Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Our World

by Pedro Domingos

and only then,

That's not how neurons work. Rather bothered by the whole way this is approached. Hypothetical grandmother cells would be taking inputs from all places. Not just appearance, but smell and touch and memory. A whole web of associations which would trigger the grandmother cell to varying degrees. All sorts of things remind you of your grandmother, and when she is gone you will see her everywhere.

When you can’t get the temperature in the shower just right—first it’s too cold, and then it quickly shifts to too hot—blame the S curve.

For reference, this is exactly because of the way neurons work, which makes it less of an explanatory metaphor, and more a direct example.

highly fit individual doesn’t simply compete to reproduce within its own generation, but also with its children, and then its grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on,

This competition happens in nature too, especially in species which can also reproduce asexually. Cloning might as well be immortality. You don't need to be immortal to compete intergenerationally. Even mammals do it. Mortality is an important part of selection. Producing fit offspring is part of the game - a mutation that is good for you can be fatal for your offspring - see sickle cell anemia. In this example, the children of exact-matching algorithms might all be worse than the parent because that's a daft approach, so you need it to die out to make room for other approaches.