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From: alan@sun.uucp (Alan Marr, Sun Graphics)
Newsgroups: net.origins
Subject: Design:  Perfection vs. Shabbiness
Message-ID: <2452@sun.uucp>
Date: Sat, 20-Jul-85 18:12:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.2452
Posted: Sat Jul 20 18:12:48 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jul-85 23:45:25 EDT
References: <356@imsvax.UUCP> <540@psivax.UUCP> <1266@uwmacc.UUCP> <564@psivax.UUCP>
Reply-To: alan@sun.UUCP
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Lines: 25
Summary: 


>>> [Ted Holden]
>>>    I believe  that a  world forged  entirely by chance
>>> mutations  and  Darwinian  laws  would  be  a  world of
>>> unbelievable shabbiness, i.e. that the  law of survival
>>> of the fittest would give you acceptable functionality,
>>> but never  perfection.  Such  a world  would resemble a
>>> world created  by the Federal Government.

Not necessarily so.  Consider sailboat design.  The designers
had to make lots of experiments by trial and error over the
thousands of years of sailboat evolution.  Racing yachts have
achieved considerable perfection in design, from our present
point of view and compared to what came before.  The naval
architects were guided by more than just random mutation, but
the important thing to think of is that they were affected by
a process of selection that is exactly analogous to survival
of the fittest.

Come on engineers and scientists!  We all know about the power
of elegance in mathematical proofs, the principle of least
moving parts, and Occam's razor.  Engineering, natural or
by design, constantly creates beauty, not always, but enough
times to be appreciated.