Is the brain the result of optimization, and if so, what is the optimization criterion? The popular argument in favor of the optimization view goes as follows. The brain is the result of Darwinian evolution, and therefore is optimally adapted to its environment, ensuring maximum survival and reproduction rates. In this view, to understand the brain is primarily to understand what “adapted” means for a brain, that is, what is the criterion to be optimized.

Previously, I have pointed out a few difficulties in optimality arguments used in neuroscience, in particular the problem of specification (what is being optimized) and the fact that evolution is a history-dependent process, unlike a global optimization procedure. An example of this history dependence is the fascinating case of mitochondria. Mitochondria are organelles in all eukaryotes cells that produce most of the cellular energy in the form of ATP. At this date, the main view is that these organelles are a case of symbiosis: mitochondria were once prokaryote cells that have been captured and farmed. This symbiosis has been selected and conserved through evolution, but optimization does not seem to be the most appropriate metaphor in this case.

Nonetheless, the optimization metaphor can be useful when applied to circumscribed problems that a biological organism might face, for example the energy consumption of action potential propagation. We can claim for example that, everything else being equal, an efficient axon is better than an inefficient one (with the caveat that in practice, not everything else can be made equal). But when applied at the scale of an entire organism, the optimization metaphor starts facing more serious difficulties, which I will discuss now.

When considering an entire organism, or perhaps an organ like the brain, then what criterion can we possibly choose? Recently, I started reading “Guitar Zero” by Gary Marcus. The author points out that learning music is difficult, and argues that the brain has evolved for language, not music. This statement is deeply problematic. What does it mean that the brain has evolved for language? Language does not preexist to speakers, so it cannot be that language was an evolutionary (“optimization”) criterion for the brain, unless we have a more religious view of evolution. Rather, evolutionary change can create opportunities, which might be beneficial for the survival of the species, but there is no predetermined optimization criterion.

Another example is the color visual system of bees (see for example Ways of coloring by Thompson et al.). A case can be made that the visual system of bees is adapted to the color of flowers they are interested in. But conversely, the color of flowers is adapted to the visual system of bees. This is a case of co-evolution, where the “optimization criterion” changes during the evolutionary process.

Thus, the optimization criterion does not preexist to the optimization process, and this makes the optimization metaphor weak.

A possible objection is that there is a preexisting optimization criterion, which is survival or reproduction rate. While this might be correct, it makes the optimization metaphor not very useful. In particular, it applies equally to all living species. The point is, there are species and they are different even though the optimization criterion is the same. Not all have a brain. Thus, optimization does not explain why we have a brain. Species that have a brain have different brains. The nervous system of a nematode is not the same as that of a human, even though they are all equally well adapted, and have evolved for exactly the same amount of time. Therefore, the optimization view does not explain why we speak and nematodes don’t, for example.

The problem is that “fitness” is a completely contextual notion, which depends both on the environment and on the species itself. In a previous post where I discussed an “existentialist” view of evolution, I proposed the following thought experiment. Imagine a very ancient Earth with a bunch of living organisms that do not reproduce but can survive for an indefinite amount of time. By definition, they are adapted since they exist. Then at some point, an accident occurs such that one organism starts multiplying. It multiplies until it occupies the entire Earth and resources become scarce. At this point of saturation, organisms start dying. The probability of dying being the same for both non-reproducing organisms and reproducing ones, at some point there will be only reproducing organisms. Thus in this new environment, reproducing organisms are adapted, whereas non-reproducing ones are not. If we look at the history of evolution, we note that the world of species constantly changes. Species do not appear to converge to some optimal state, because as they evolve, the environment changes and so does the notion of fitness.

In summary, the optimization criterion does not preexist to the optimization process, unless we consider a broad existentialist criterion such as survival, but then the optimization metaphor loses its usefulness.