Evolve a better mousetrap (sorry Masem)

[vakkotaur]

Looking at early examples of machines and such, the early designs seem rather primitive and crude. Sometime it's amazing that the first examples that actually worked did work at all. But the early designs were refined over and over until the current design often barely resembles the original.

There are folks who don't seem to realize this and assume that the current design is the only one and it could be no other way. The argument goes that no part can be removed and still have it be the thing it is. If that is indeed that case, then it's an example of good design or engineering. Good design or engineering has been said to be finished not when the last needed thing is added but when the last unneeded thing is removed.

But that doesn't mean that the current thing is the only way it could be. One of the arguments for so-called Intelligent Design is that life is irreducibly complex: you can't remove anything without breaking the thing it's a part of. One example, of something actually designed, is the snap mousetrap which it is claimed is irreducible: nothing can be removed and have it still function. But that assumes that it was always in its finished form.

What if it wasn't?

Comments

[haystack.livejournal.com]

That's an excellent article, Vakkotaur. Thank you for sharing it.