Dawkins introduced a great metaphor: a cake recipe is a genotype, and how the cake tastes is the phenotype.* Genotype chauvinists emphasize that the recipe is what is passed on, the sequence of words that make for a stable replicator. But people select for taste, not recipe, say the phenotypists, and taste reflects more than just the recipe—after all, there are recipe/environment interactions where bakers differ in their skill levels, cakes bake differently at various altitudes, etc. The recipe-versus-taste question can be framed practically: Your cake company isn’t selling enough cakes. Do
...more
