The Fitness-Beats-Truth theorem: in the evolutionary-game-theoretic model of Prakash et al., perceptual strategies tuned only to fitness payoffs generically outcompete strategies tuned to the true structure of the world.

The FBT theorem: fitness-only perception generically beats truth-tracking

what the source states

Formalizing perceptual evolution in evolutionary game theory and Bayesian decision theory, the authors state and prove the "Fitness-Beats-Truth (FBT) Theorem": under the model's assumptions, a strategy maximizing expected-fitness payoff consistently outcompetes one tuned to the true structure of the objective world.

what we infer

Supports precisely the interface half of Hoffman's position — that perception need not be veridical — and nothing beyond it. The chain "selection need not favor truth, therefore consciousness is fundamental, therefore quantum mechanics" adds two non-sequiturs to one theorem; the case keeps the theorem and prices the additions separately.

limitations

• A theorem inside a specified game-theoretic model; how far its payoff structures describe actual perceptual evolution is an empirical question the paper does not settle.