# Descent with Modification > **Machine-Evolution Nexus:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] places this concept within the history and governance of substrate-independent evolution. **Domain:** Evolution / Lineage **Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition Descent with modification is Darwin’s formulation for continuity of inherited organization accompanied by change across generations. ## Machine-Evolution Context It connects biological common descent to digital lineages without claiming material identity. Avida’s logged ancestry makes each mutation and branching event directly inspectable. ## Continuity and Evidence Boundary Descent explains genealogical continuity, not the transfer of a first-person perspective. This distinction is central to reconstructed persons and copied machine minds. ## Relationships [[wiki/Lineage|Lineage]], [[wiki/Inheritance|Inheritance]], [[wiki/Branching Descent|Branching Descent]], [[wiki/Reconstructed Person|Reconstructed Person]] ## Sources / Provenance - Charles Darwin, _On the Origin of Species_ (1859).