Proposition #2
"While in an asexual species natural selection is determined solely by ecological selection, that is not the case for species reproducing sexually; for those, natural selection equals ecological selection plus sexual selection. In other words, in a sexual species, natural selection is optimising a function e(x)+s(x), compared to the straightforward e(x) optimised in asexual species. It is therefore testament to the advantages of sexual reproduction that despite this handicap it achieves a better result for e(x) than its asexual counterpart."
I wouldn't say that this is a deeply original thought. However, despite having read a fair share of books on evolution and population genetics, I have never seen this argument exposed in such a direct manner. It seemed thus "propositionworthy". Besides, applying abstract aspects of optimising theory to real-world examples is always fun.
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