>'Hill climing' in evolution is linked to the idea of 'fit' to an
>'evolutionary niche'. Richard Levins and Richards Lewontin's 1985 book,
>'The Dialectical Biologist' gives a good critique of such a description of
>evolution.
Peter, I have looked for their analysis of Sewall Wright's adaptive landscape in this book, and cannot find it. However I do see Lewontin making important use of the idea of multiple peaks in what I imagine to be his contribution to Griffiths, et al. Genetic Analysis. Here Lewontin seems to be making the exact opposite point of Eigen, i.e., populations may indeed get trapped on relatively low local peaks. Which seems consistent with Lewontin's critique of the panglossian adaptationist programme.
Yours, Rakesh