When given a choice of directions to go on a fitness landscape, a hill climber will always attempt to avoid going "down" and will always attempt to go "up". Hill Climbing can be a very successful strategy when the hill you are on is the best hill in your local neighborhood. The weakness of the Hill Climbing strategy is twofold:
1. Because you can't go down, once you get to the top of your hill, you are "trapped" on that hill. If the hill you are on is not a global optimum (i.e. there are bigger hills elsewhere), you will be unable to traverse to that higher potential peak.
2. As your landscape changes, if your local peak begins to shrink, you will find yourself reducing in wellbeing without being able to find a more fulfilling strategy.
Importantly, the strategies of individuals are part of the Fitness Landscape. As a consequence, as more individuals start climbing the same hill, their competitive dynamics can lead to the hill shrinking. For example, if you have a meadow full of grass and three sheep on it, this is a very high hill for those sheep. But as more and more sheep enter the meadow the competitive dynamics reduces the wellbeing of each sheep in the meadow - shrinking the size of the hill for each. Return to Fitness Landscape
1. Because you can't go down, once you get to the top of your hill, you are "trapped" on that hill. If the hill you are on is not a global optimum (i.e. there are bigger hills elsewhere), you will be unable to traverse to that higher potential peak.
2. As your landscape changes, if your local peak begins to shrink, you will find yourself reducing in wellbeing without being able to find a more fulfilling strategy.
Importantly, the strategies of individuals are part of the Fitness Landscape. As a consequence, as more individuals start climbing the same hill, their competitive dynamics can lead to the hill shrinking. For example, if you have a meadow full of grass and three sheep on it, this is a very high hill for those sheep. But as more and more sheep enter the meadow the competitive dynamics reduces the wellbeing of each sheep in the meadow - shrinking the size of the hill for each.
Return to Fitness Landscape