  Simonton (2006) makes the unwarranted assumption that nonmonotonicity
supports a Darwinian view of creativity. Darwin's theory of natural selection
was motivated by a paradox that has no equivalent in creative thought: the
paradox of how change accumulates when acquired traits are not inherited. To
describe a process of cumulative change in which acquired traits are retained
is outside of the scope of the theory of natural selection. Even the early
evolution of life itself (prior to genetically mediated template replication)
cannot be described by natural selection. Specifically, natural selection
cannot describe change of state that involves horizontal (Lamarckian) exchange,
or occurs through interaction with an incompletely specified context. It cannot
describe change wherein variants are evaluated sequentially, and wherein this
evaluation can itself change the state space and/or fitness function, because
no two variants are ever evaluated according to the same selection criterion.
Concerns are also raised as to the methodology used in Simonton's study.
