J. Mark Baldwin

A New Factor in Evolution

In several recent publications I have developed, from different points of view, some considerations which tend to bring out a certain influence at work in organic evolutionwhich I venture to call “a new factor.” I give below a list of references1 to these publications and shall refer to them by number as this paper proceeds. The object of the present paper is to gather into one sketch an outline of the view of the process of development which these different publications have hinged upon. The problems involved in a theory of organic development may be gathered up under three great heads: Ontogeny, Phylogeny, Heredity. The general consideration, the “factor” which I propose to bring out, is operative in the first instance, in the field of Ontogeny; I shall consequently speak first of the problem of Ontogeny, then of that of Phylogeny, in so far as the topic dealt with makes it necessary, then of that of Heredity, under the same limitation, and finally, give some definitions and conclusions.

A New Factor in Evolution (Continued)

two Diatoms emerges from the valves, and placed by side, but without conjugation, forms each an auxospore. In the fifth, two Diatoms divide transversely and the two halves of each conjugate, each half with the corresponding half of the other and thus form two auxospores. Before any truly natural classification can be made the significance of these various modes of producing auxospores must be understood. Whether the sexual or the asexual method is the primitive one must be known, or whether the different methods are so many expedients to overcome the difficulties imposed upon these plants by their siliceous shells. At present our knowledge of the structure and physiology of Diatoms is not sufficient to enable us to construct a perfectly natural system of classification, and until something better is proposed, Petits may well be adopted, for although it is not wholly natural, it is more so than any which has preceded it.

AN OPTICAL ILLUSION.

The goal of this project is to explain some of the illusory phenomena using sparse coding and whitening model. Instead of the sparse coding method proposed by Olshausen in [1], transient invariant sparse coding is used. Transient in variant sparse coding can learn larger bases compared to ordinary sparse coding, which can help a lot in studying illusion phenomena. Using small bases implies using small images, which in turn might diminish illusory effect that we are looking for in the image.