On the Evolution of Igors

How would an Igor evolve?  That is the question I have asked myself and propose to answer in this post.

     First, for those of you who may not know what an Igor is:  An Igor is a fictional creature in the Discworld series.  All members of the species are named Igor (like the Q, if you've heard of them) and they serve as assistants to mad scientists.  They are much like humans except that they are very skilled in the realm of mad science.  They are usually quite sane, unlike the masters that they serve.  The thing about Igors that would affect their evolution is the fact that they do a lot of surgery on themselves.  They can remove and replace limbs with ease.  This led to them passing down body parts like heirlooms.  An Igor could have his father's hands and his mother's eyes, literally.

     How would this affect their evolution?  Well, if one assumes they pass on a random set of body parts (organs can be passed on as well as limbs), if they were to not pass on their reproductive organs, then the base Igor would become steadily worse, and body parts from ancestors more and more valuable as Igors degraded due to poor genes surviving on the coattails of relatives.  This would, of course, eventually reverse itself when the supply of ancestral body parts ran dry.  I do not think that this has happened to the Igors in Discworld, otherwise they would not still be as smart as they are, since they can't (obviously) pass down brains.
     Instead, I believe that they pass on their reproductive organs.  Odd as that may sound, it might be the only way for Igors to survive.  If they were to do that, strong genes would be able to produce more offspring for much longer than they would be able to if they died with their original owners.  It does seem to be a bit of a strange concept, but it seems to me that this would be the only way for Igors to survive.  This would accelerate the process of natural selection because there would be an intelligence deciding which genes ought to be passed on.  Like I said before, if they didn't do this the weaker Igors could survive with stronger bodies from their ancestors and would weaken the gene pool.
     Now, the question that arises from this conclusion is:  Who chooses which reproductive organs to keep and which to throw away?  Would it be individual Igors?  There's another concern that factors into this.  When do the Igors start swapping parts?  For the purposes of this post, I'm going to assume they start swapping when they reach maturity.  Now, back to the topic at hand: I think it's more likely that individual Igors would decide.  With other body parts, the parents and relatives pass on their limbs or organs by their own choice.  I would think that they would pass along their reproductive organs if they saw that the children produced by those organs were healthier or stronger or smarter or just better than other Igor children.  Though this is the more logical explanation, I prefer to think that there is a council of Igors who judge other Igors on their reproductive ability and decide whether or not those organs ought to be passed down.  It amuses me to think of a council whose only purpose is this.
     And on that note, I'll end this post.  I think I had something else to say about it, but I've forgotten what it was.  That tends to happen a lot.