There is a growing consensus among researchers in evolutionary computation that the discovery and separation of genetic modules can make complex structures easier to evolve by restructuring the genotype-phenotype map, and also by allowing genetic material to be reused. Many such systems follow the philosophy that effective reuse can be achieved by first discovering or building useful modules, and then duplicating them in the phenotype after they have been discovered. We believe that the duplication of genetic modules is not the primary evolutionary factor leading to reuse of phenotypic structures. Instead, natural evolution first establishes a morphological convention, such as bilateral symmetry, and then exploits that convention as a framework for repetition of phenotypic features.

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Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2004) Workshop Program. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 2004