Darwinian populations and natural selection

Held works cite Godfrey-Smith (2009) mainly on Darwinian individuality and the major evolutionary transitions. Watson et al. use it, alongside Maynard Smith and Szathmáry and Okasha, for the idea that evolutionary units are defined by the level at which variation in reproductive success is heritable, and for germ-line sequestration and bottlenecks in the origin of multicellularity. Levin cites it for a gradualist view of individuality and for an agential perspective that looks different at different scales of observation.

Note that the evolutionary unit can be defined by the level (or levels) of organisation where variation in reproductive success is heritable (evo ← ego)

Watson RA, Mills R, Buckley CL, Kouvaris K…, 2016 · Evolutionary Connectionism: Algorithmic Principles Underlying the… · open at passage 10

the origin of multicellularity (in most cases) involves the evolution of a population bottleneck and sequestration of the germ line that creates high-relatedness among particles within a collective

Watson RA, Mills R, Buckley CL, Kouvaris K…, 2016 · Evolutionary Connectionism: Algorithmic Principles Underlying the… · open at passage 82

A focus on the plasticity of the embodiments of mind strongly suggests this kind of gradualist view, which has been expounded in the context of evolutionary forces controlling individuality

Levin M, 2022 · Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere: An Experimentally-Grounded… · open at passage 27