> Yes, the state-space of all reachable algorithms is the "preexisting" bit.
By that reasoning, /no/ process of discovery in the intellectual field
is anything more than a "hunt," as the state-space of all possible
memes/physical-states is being "searched."
> I agree that "breeding" an algorithm isn't linearly rational, but it may
> very well be parallelly/nonlinearly rational. I'm experimenting with that
> [by hand] in some of my side studies.
Oh, I'm not so sure about it being nonlinearly rational; it starts
with a single idea (an idea of what's `better') and grows a tree,
checking the leaves for `goodness.' Pretty linear /seen on that
level/, but looking at it from a progress PoV, its non-congruant.