the sedimentary or hierarchical path of progress

#theme

• examples:
  • evolution builds on itself
    • things that were once the main focus of evolution become annealed in place and become the toolbox for future change
      • the ribosome
      • the bone structure of invertebrates
      • rna amino acid codon table
    • e.g. in Sean B. Carroll Endless Forms Most Beautiful
  • mathematics
  • burden of knowledge as a potential negative effect of this; having to learn a lot to get to the point of being able to make meaningful contributions
• non-examples:
  • sometimes you do indeed have instances where something completely new arises
  • in physics, general relativity
• Related themes:
  • deletion is difficult
• questions
  • [?] what is the mechanism by which this occurs?
    • hierarchical progress via learned => innate