The Degree of Adaptation of a Replicator

Genes embody knowledge about their niches. Everything of fundamental significance about the phenomenon of life depends on this property and not on replication per se. In principle, one could imagine a species whose genes were unable to replicate but instead they were adapted to keep their physical form unchanged by continual self-maintenance. Such a species is unlikely to evolve naturally, but it might be constructed artificially. The degree of adaptation of these non replicating genes as a degree to which they contribute to their own survival in a particular form.