Re: Human design and natural "design"


"dkomo" <dkomo871@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:ddiijq$2ok$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Evolution produces organisms which show the appearance of design, but
> are not actually designed. Evolution uses random variation and
> selection to do this.
>
> In the computer world, genetic algorithms and genetic programming
> closely mimic evolution. Genetic algorithms find good approximate
> solutions to difficult optimization problems using random variation and
> selection for fitness. Genetic programming generates computer programs
> which are good solutions to specific problems, again using random
> variation and selection to accomplish this.
>
> In the general world of human design, is there anything more than random
> variation and selection? Yes, an evaluative memory. As a design
> proceeds, it is *guided* using a combination of what has worked in the
> past with foresight into what may work in the future.

I'm not happy with that word "foresight" since it is evocative of
fortune-telling or perhaps of "inspiration". I would prefer to say
that what is involved are "models" that provide guidance as to what
will happen if we try something that has never before been tried.

> A large and
> highly complex neural network continuously monitors the progress of the
> design, providing highly discriminatory feedback. This type of guidance
> is what is missing in evolution and the computer science examples.

Well, back before genetic algorithms became popular, the field of
"classical AI" sought to capture that "guidance" in an algorithm.
A good example might be the "General Problem Solver" of Newell, Shaw,
and Simon. I think that this work captured a good deal of the truth
about human (intelligent) design and problem solving.

But at the end of the day, no good human designer actually trusts the
designs that he has come up with. So he builds a prototype and tests
it. And, if the prototype fails, it is "back to the drawing board".
So ultimately, there is not that big of a difference between us and
Nature/NS after all. We both ultimately depend upon empiricism. If
it works, we keep it. It is all trial-and-error.

I think that you are claiming that human designers can accomplish a
design using fewer trials and fewer errors. Very true, but there is
a cost. As compared to what nature comes up with, human designs are
simple and pedestrian. Nature, with a much larger "empirical testing
budget", and less constrained by models and past experience, sometimes
comes up with designs that exploit whole new patterns of interaction -
whole new physical phenomena that have never been utilized before.

Also, I think that we have to admit that Nature is working in a much
more challenging design space than anything humans have yet attempted.
Her designs have to feed themselves, fend off predators, repair themselves
and grow to adulthood from a single egg (all the while feeding, fending,
and repairing).

Your goal in your posting was to highlight the differences between
"intelligent design" and "design by natural selection". My opinion is
that it is also worthwhile to highlight the similarities. To my
mind, the similarities are strong enough so that I like to say that
design by natural selection IS intelligent design. Nature IS an
intelligent Agent. Or better, there are a whole pantheon of intelligent
Agents (one per species) busily designing and redesigning the biosphere.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Human design and natural "design"
    ... >>>generations of design. ... >>>There are three differences I see between evolution and design. ... >Only if you assume there is nothing but random variation going on inside ... Good luck on that. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Human design and natural "design"
    ... Evolution produces organisms which show the appearance of design, ... solutions to difficult optimization problems using random variation and ... selection for fitness. ... In the general world of human design, is there anything more than random ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Human design and natural "design"
    ... Evolution produces organisms which show the appearance of design, ... solutions to difficult optimization problems using random variation and ... selection for fitness. ... In the general world of human design, is there anything more than random ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Human design and natural "design"
    ... Evolution uses random variation and ... >>solutions to difficult optimization problems using random variation and ... >>selection for fitness. ... >>In the general world of human design, is there anything more than random ...
    (sci.bio.evolution)
  • Re: Human design and natural "design"
    ... >>connection between the two processes in that human design involves some ... >>selection based on desired criteria. ... >>try to force the kind of sweeping analogy between design and evolution ... which proceeds from random variation. ...
    (talk.origins)
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