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Re: [Phys-l] [PHYSHARE] Darwinism under attack? plus some relevant Darwin quotes



For people in your agnostic position, it would possibly be helpful to review how
new engineering designs are produced by evaluating populations of hopeful
candidates over many generations, where the candidates which are best
suited to the explicit criterion of merit are selected for conjugal
reproduction, along with some small fraction of randomly mutated
specimens. This seems the clearest example of engineering profiting
from using evolutionary methods.

Brian W

At 11:17 PM 7/27/2008, Bob, you wrote:
Sorry Brian,

But I don't see how evolution explicitly comes in here. Our brains don't
necessarily have to work differently if they are a product of either
Evolution or Creation. I do agree with spending valuable physics
class time on physics.

Bob at PC
(Emphatically not a Creationist!)

________________________________

From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu on behalf of Brian Whatcott
Sent: Sun 7/27/2008 5:20 PM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] [PHYSHARE] Darwinism under attack? plus some relevant Darwin quotes



I took exception to this note, attributed to jbeyer3@AOL.COM :

> > After teaching physics for 26 years, I still find no use for a
> > discussion on evolution! It does not impact physics or most other
> > sciences for that matter. The last time evolution entered into a
> > engineering solution discussion at GE or IBM or (you name the
> > company) was....uh....NEVER!


Au contraire! A glance at the toolboxes in Matlab, available to
engineers at the upper reaches of GE, IBM and elsewhere,
includes such items as the Genetic Algorithm, Fuzzy Logic,
and Neural Networks, all of which owe their conception to the
wetware comparison.


Brian Whatcott Altus OK Eureka!