[jobu]

" For instance, leaf shape changes with soil water and chemistry. SET views this plasticity as merely fine-tuning, or even noise. The EES sees it as a plausible first step in adaptive evolution."

So the EES model believes these organisms are evolving as they grow to adapt to a changing environment. Am I reading this right? Do any organisms actually have the ability to modify their genetic code as they develop?

[yohanatan]

Gene expressions are not binary. Code may not necessarily need to be modified-- merely activated or deactivated per expression levels. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if code does in fact get 'modified' over time (but there is the problem of separating code from data in your model even then).