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But complex animals had obtained their adaptive flexibility at some cost--they had traded one dependency for another. It was no longer necessary to change their bodies to adapt, because now their adaptation was behavior, socially determined. That behavior required learning. In a sense, among higher animals adaptive fitness was no longer transmitted to the next generation by DNA at all. It was now carried by teaching.
But complex animals had obtained their adaptive flexibility at some cost--they had traded one dependency for another. It was no longer necessary to change their bodies to adapt, because now their adaptation was behavior, socially determined. That behavior required learning. In a sense, among higher animals adaptive fitness was no longer transmitted to the next generation by DNA at all. It was now carried by teaching.
Approximate author period: c. 1975 AD · modern
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- Michael Crichton
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
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- Approximate author period: c. 1975 AD · modern
Approximate author-period anchor from life dates 1942 to 2008; Wikidata Q172140, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q172140 (accessed 2026-10-08). Not a quotation composition date.
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 268304; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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