The work of Gavrilets, along with other issues, has prompted Kaplan (2008) to propose abandoning the metaphor of evolutionary landscapes (which he calls adaptive or fitness landscapes). Kaplan (2008) has six main criticisms of the metaphor: (1) it has no explanatory power; (2) it lacks a relevant mathematical model; (3) it has no heuristic role; (4) it is imprecise; (5) it confuses more than it explains; and (6) there is no longer a reason to keep thinking in 2D or 3D when we have the computational power to consider higher dimensionality.
Gavrilets' work, along with other issues, has prompted Kaplan (2008) to propose abandoning the metaphor of evolutionary landscapes (which he calls adaptive or fitness landscapes). Kaplan (2008) has six main criticisms of the metaphor: (1) it has no explanatory power; (2) it lacks a relevant mathematical model; (3) it has no heuristic role; (4) it is imprecise; (5) it confuses more than it explains; and (6) there is no longer a reason to keep thinking in 2D or 3D when we have the computational power to consider higher dimensionality.