"The random thing" is indeed efficient. That's why it takes millions of years to evolve from single-celled organism to what you see on the planet today.
It always seemed a little dismissive of the potential of our now very complex organisms to use feedback if only purely random mutations were at play.
Instead of random mutations full stop, how about informed best guess mutations targeted at potentially stressed areas of the body.
He's written a fascinating paper exploring what other algorithms besides random search could perform the computational task required and are also biologically plausible: https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/2643031/valiant_...
But I suspect, as has been demonstrated in labs with bacteria, that it really is random. When their environment begins to show signs of contamination, the bacteria's inner workings don't use an "informed best guess" when mutating for reproduction - the random changes result in bacteria suited for death with exposure to the contamination, and bacteria that are more resistant to the contamination. Guess which ones survive to pass on the trait.
(if you're lucky) (also don't include masters of education, that's about teaching, not the subject matter being taught)
that they aquired a decade or so ago. It's not surprising if what they know is well what they were taught and not what is most current.
First off, if you teach at the middle or high school level, you have to have a masters in the subject you teach. It's called a single subject credential.
Secondly, just like college professors, who continue to learn about new developments in their field, a lot of K-12 teachers, and especially 7-12 teachers, do that too. They also read papers and also attend conferences to learn the latest developments in their field.
That’s not true, some states don’t require a Masters in any subject, let alone in one relevant to what they’re teaching.
https://study.com/articles/High_School_Teacher_Requirements_...
https://teach.com/become/teaching-credential/state-requireme...
2nd case is probably fair, though I think a lot of people, myself included, have has experiences with teachers that definitely didn't pay attention in those seminars if they attended. (And in my case that's just with 1.5 years of middle school)