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Intelligent Evolution?

Apathia said:
What role does scientific research play in technological development? To what extent, if any, are new inventions based on new scientific theories?
Does nature, apart from human culture, do science?
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http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/

The goal really of all "evolution" is to make something that can grow and evolve and get replicated... humans try to make products that work... nature can't help but do that... we can learn from the eons of experimentation... the "goal" is always to make more and better and more efficient "things" from the information that is evolving... things even more suited for the environment they are in. This is true of animals and our technology. If information could "think" it would all be trying to be replicated in some form in the future via it's vehicles and replicators-- those that "win" become part of evolving systems--species, technology, languages, etc.

Nothing is based on anything brand new--it's all refining and tweaking and clarifying the information accumulated from the eons past...
 
Paulhoff said:
In engineering (as you know) there is a goal, there is a so-called intelligence. Evolution does not have any goal and no so-called intelligence.

Paul

:) :) :)
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So what was the goal of the VHS makers? The Betamax makers? The other assorted video recorders? Not every goal was realized. But even if no-one had the goal to "win"-- there would be a winners. It's the same as biological evolution. The assorted goals of humans can be extracted out of the equation, because they don't lead to further understanding about evolution of either products or species in any way. Individual goals can play a role in what evolves--but so can chance, luck, serendipity, and masses of consumers-- there are so many inputs that the goals of individuals are just so unnecessary to understanding the process of getting from the first video technology to the present video technology.
 
articulett said:
http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/

The goal really of all "evolution" is to make something that can grow and evolve and get replicated... humans try to make products that work... nature can't help but do that... we can learn from the eons of experimentation... the "goal" is always to make more and better and more efficient "things" from the information that is evolving... things even more suited for the environment they are in. This is true of animals and our technology. If information could "think" it would all be trying to be replicated in some form in the future via it's vehicles and replicators-- those that "win" become part of evolving systems--species, technology, languages, etc.

Nothing is based on anything brand new--it's all refining and tweaking and clarifying the information accumulated from the eons past...
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And even then. If the information survives better by beign less efficient, so be it.
 
Just thought I'd post this again because it was from a magazine section that was trying to teach children about evolution:

Words of Caution

Language can be misleading. When scientists say that living thing "want" to pass on their genes or have "strategies" for "competing," these words are just handy short-cuts for understanding what really happens in nature by comparing it to familiar human activities.

It's useful to imagine all living things, from plants to animals to bacteria, are like player in a vast, complicated game. The goal of the game is to pass on as many of your genes as possible to the next generation. (Winners leave offspring. Losers go extinct.)

But it's helpful to remember this is just a way to help us imagine what is really going on. Plants don't really "want" anything-they grow simply because they are made that way. Not even the smarter animals really "want" to pass on their genes (or even know what genes are). Animals just want to be warm and fed and find a mate. But, by simply doing what comes naturally, living things act as though they are scheming and striving at the gene-passing contest.

Any species that happens to act in a way that passes on genes tends to leave descendants that act the same way. Living thing are good at competing because they inherited qualities from their ancestors.
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articulett said:
So what was the goal of the VHS makers? The Betamax makers? The other assorted video recorders? Not every goal was realized. But even if no-one had the goal to "win"-- there would be a winners. It's the same as biological evolution. The assorted goals of humans can be extracted out of the equation, because they don't lead to further understanding about evolution of either products or species in any way. Individual goals can play a role in what evolves--but so can chance, luck, serendipity, and masses of consumers-- there are so many inputs that the goals of individuals are just so unnecessary to understanding the process of getting from the first video technology to the present video technology.
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There where still goals with the makers, intelligence is behind the goals, good or bad, evolution has no goals, there are no so-called winners with evolution, there are only the ones still living, and even if you want to call them winners it still does not make it so.

Paul

:) :) :)
 
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Belz... said:
And even then. If the information survives better by beign less efficient, so be it.
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Yep... evolution is ever doing the cost benefit analysis--

It's kind of cool... eyes will devolve away after a species starts living underground because eyes become more of a liability than a survival mechanism...
 
Paulhoff said:
There where still goals with the makers, intelligence is behind the goals, good or bad, evolution has no goals, there are no so-called winners with evolution, there are only the ones still living, and even if you want to call them winners it still does not make it so.

Paul

:) :) :)
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The same goes for VHS tapes.

Survival may or may not depend on the goals of the assorted replicators.
There are lots of mini goals behind the how video technology evolves.... and there are lots of mini goals involving sex, food, and survival behind how species evolve. The goals can be extracted out of the equation to understand the process.
 
articulett said:
The same goes for VHS tapes.

Survival may or may not depend on the goals of the assorted replicators.
There are lots of mini goals behind the how video technology evolves.... and there are lots of mini goals involving sex, food, and survival behind how species evolve. The goals can be extracted out of the equation to understand the process.
Click to expand...
So a one cell animal and/or plant has a goal, go figure.

Paul

:) :) :)
 
The other point is that there is one point of correspondance between the two: both are iterative processes, although the nature of the iteration is different.

If you are saying that one dosent need a master plan to produce complex systams that would be OK, however, the p[roblem with the analogy is that it is attractive, and that the parts where it differs are also attractive, and are likely to make the wrong point. You need to say that this analogy shows that iterative processes without a master plan can produce complex systems. Pretending that there is a direct correspondance with evolution as seen in biological systems is misleading.

There might be (different) selection processes in both technological development and in biological evolution, but the variation is (usually) of a different type. Where the variation is of the same type in evolutionary algorithms, the selection process has a predefined goal, or requirement specification, which is lacking in biological evolution.

The analogy is more likely to confuse than clarify, and worse, people are likely to think that they have understood the principle, when they haven't.
 
The Cell is a way for information (dna) to get itself copied.

A product is the way for information (product design) to get itself copied.

The information codes for things that compete in the environment to see which information will be coding for things in the future.
 
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