The Cost of Modularity
The Cost of Modularity
This chapter compares the biological accounts of the evolution of modules with what is known about the evolution of modular systems in engineering. It describes the problem of mapping functions on a modular structure. It demonstrates that the benefits and the costs must be considered to explain the evolution of modular organization of biological organisms. It specifically explains the costs of a longer period of development, tara costs, autonomy costs, and costs for module-wise replacement. This chapter shows that there might have been an adaptive evolutionary path leading to the modular organization, without eliminating the possibility that exactly the proposed evolutionary pathway was highly unlikely to occur because of fitness-decreasing “side effects”.
Keywords: modular systems, engineering, mapping functions, modular structure, modular organization, biological organisms, tara costs, autonomy costs, module-wise replacement
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