The cost, however, is astounding. For every evolutionary change or mutation that succeeds, there are hundreds, perhaps millions, of dead-end journeys. One eagle survives a thousand dodo birds. But the alternative to nature's undisciplined creativity is rigidity, paralysis, and decline. Asexual reproduction is short and stagnant stream that leads no farther than the amoeba.
Nature advances through the wasteful confusion of sex.
Economies advance through the noisy jumble of the free market. Science advances not just through reason but in random leaps of inspiration. Some species and businesses and scientific experiments fail. Others march forward. Life advances not despite chaos but because of it.