Further, the analysis showed that the ability of organisms to adapt is highest at intermediate levels of complexity. "This means a simple organism is not best, and a very complex organism is not best; some intermediate level of complexity is best in terms of the adaptation rate," Zhang said.
The new findings help buffer evolutionary biology against the criticisms of intelligent design proponents, Zhang said. "The evolution of complexity is one thing that they often target. Admittedly, there were some theoretical difficulties in explaining the evolution of complexity because of the notion of the cost of complexity, but with our findings these difficulties are now removed."
I've been mulling over complexity for decades. If everything tends to entropy (as I've been taught), then why do we have anything atoms, molecules, organisms, societies? In my view, everything tends towards complexity (I call it "complexification").
This study is reported to show that if you're too simple or too complex you're not going to adapt. Makes sense – you need to be flexible to find that sweet spot of survival and propagation, be too rigid or too loose and you lose.
